Crowds dispersing from Marina beach: TN govt to Centre on Jallikattu protests

New Delhi: The Tamil Nadu government on Monday conveyed to the Centre that crowds at Chennai's Marina beach have started dispersing slowly after the Jallikattu bill was passed unanimously by the state assembly.

In a communication, the Tamil Nadu government said that crowds have started dispersing after staging continuous protests for several days demanding permanent solution to conduct Jallikattu regularly, official sources said.

However, the Tamil Nadu Police will keep overnight vigil and situation in the state is expected to improve on Tuesday.

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi also had a telephonic conversation with Director General of Tamil Nadu Police.

Sources said that the Central government is closely monitoring the situation in Tamil Nadu and is ready to offer all assistance to bring back normalcy in the state.

Violence broke out today in Chennai and in other parts of Tamil Nadu as police cracked down on protesters even as the six-day-old 'Marina uprising" was called off after the state

Assembly passed a bill to replace the ordinance allowing the banned jallikattu.

The agitation in Madurai, famous for its Alanganallur bull taming event, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore and other places were also withdrawn late in the evening.

After the crackdown early in the morning, the sands of Marina beach and areas around it in Triplicane, Teynampet and Sellur in Madurai and Gandhipuram in Coimbatore witnessed pitched battles between the protesters and police who fired teargas shells and resorted to lathicharge to disperse the large crowds.

There were incidents of stone throwing and burning of vehicles and sundry items at various places in protest against the police action. Police personnel and their vehicles along with those of public were targeted. A number of policemen and members of the public were also injured.