DMK threatens to intensify protest

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will intensify its protest in Coimbatore if the State Government and Coimbatore police deny permission for holding ‘makkal grama sabai’ meetings, party’s east urban unit in-charge and Singanallur MLA N. Karthik said here on Tuesday while leading a protest condemning the police action against party workers.

He alleged that the police at the behest of Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani was denying permission to the DMK to even tie party flags to hold the meetings. Tuesday’s protest was only the first. If the police continued with this line of action, the DMK would not only intensify its protest but also rope in allies to register its protest, he said.

Earlier, as the Coimbatore City Police had placed barricades, Mr. Karthik, former minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy, Member of Parliament, Pollachi, K. Shanmuga Sundaram, DMK unit heads Paiya Gounder alias Krishnan and others marched towards the protest venue. But the police prevented them from marching ahead at the Red Cross Junction, near the Coimbatore South Taluk office. The police also detained the party’s Coimbatore south unit chief Thedral Selvaraj and more than 300 workers from entering the city to join the protest, the party sources claimed.

At the end of the protest, the Coimbatore City Police removed the leaders and around 500 workers from the Red Cross Junction, said sources.