Coimbatore: Hundreds of BJP cadres sat in front of the party office on VKK Menon Road here on Friday and urged the state government to grant permission for Vetrivel Yatra.
The cadres, led by BJP district president R Nandakumar, chanted Kanda Shashti Kavacham and sang devotional songs. One side of the road was barricaded and hundreds of police officers were deployed there.
Police threatened to arrest the protesters if they conducted the yatra. “The Tamil Nadu government had earlier told us to obtain permission from district authorities. Though they have changed their stance, BJP won’t. Vetrivel Yatra will be conducted successfully,” said BJP state treasurer S R Sekar. “If 144 CrPC is implemented properly, no one can gather in public places. But AIADMK cadres gathered in many places, fearing no action. We believe that the AIADMK government is afraid of the opposition party. The government acted based on the opposition party’s demand.”
The cadres started the rally, only to be intercepted near the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) bus stand at Gandhipuram, where they dispersed.
Meanwhile, the rural police arrested more than 350 BJP cadres, who staged a protest in Pollachi seeking permission to conduct Vetrivel Yatra. They were kept at a marriage hall and were later let off.
In Tirupur, the city police dispersed a group of 200 BJP cadres, who held a protest near the new bus terminus. After a protester, who was holding a BJP flag, climbed atop a cellphone tower, police held talks with the man and made him climb down.