About 270 members of Cauvery Rights Retrieval Movement and other farmers organisations were detained after they attempted to block rail traffic in Thanjavur and Tiruchi districts on Saturday. They were protesting against the three new farm laws and to express solidarity with the protesting farmers in Delhi.
About 90 members of the organisation and few other farmers’ associations were taken into custody after they squatted on the railway track in front of the Tiruchi-Chennai special train at Budalur station. As the agitators, who demanded the immediate repeal of the laws, failed to heed of the police plea to disperse, they were taken into custody. The train suffered a delay of about 10 minutes due to the agitation.
Thanjavur
In Thanjavur, the movement members attempted to lay siege to the office of Central Excise. When they were prevented by the police, the protesters, led by movement coordinator P.Maniarasan, resorted to a road blockade on the Medical College Road. About 150 persons courted arrest. “We demand the immediate repeal of the three laws. We are not prepared to accept any amendments to the anti-farmer laws,” Mr. Maniarasan said.
In Tiruchi, the movement members, including Kavithuvan and M.P. Chinnadurai, district president of the Tamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam, marched from Bharathiar Salai towards the railway junction. On being intercepted, they squatted on the roads briefly. Twenty-four protesters were taken into preventive custody by the police.
Meanwhile, a group of members of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) staged a demonstration against the farm laws near the Head Post Office in Thanjavur.