Won't back down,' say pro-Jallikattu protesters; TN turns into battleground
Chennai: Monday morning, the week-long peaceful protest held by thousands of youth at Chennai’s Marina beach in support of Jallikattu, took an ugly turn amid reports of stone-pelting and baton-charge. The Chennai police carried a swift crackdown and started evicting the sea of protesters and parts of the city started resembling a battle-ground, with vehicles set afire and smoke from the burning vehicles filled the air.
Despite promulgation of an ordinance on Saturday for conducting the bull-taming sport, they had vowed to carry on with their protest till a permanent solution was found to ensure that the sport is held annually without any hindrance.
Read: 3 die as Jallikattu restarts in Tamil Nadu
Even early Monday morning, protesters refused to leave from the beach and some even threatened to coming suicide if they were forcefully removed from the site. With the youth resolute on carrying on their protests, heated clashes ensued between police personnel and protesters.
Some protesters lined up at the seashore forming a human chain and a group entered the water refusing to heed police requests to disperse.
Some others staged a sit-in on the sands while others regrouped in nearby areas, shouting slogans and allegedly throwing stones on policemen.
Also read: Jallikattu: DMK boycotts Assembly, terms police action ‘anti-democratic’
The Ice house police station located near Marina was set on fire and charred vehicles, burnt out police cars lay in front of the building after fire-fighters put out the flames. A helicopter was sent in by the government to monitor the escalating situation on the ground.
All routes leading to Marina Beach had been closed, and barricades were put up by the police to prevent people from assembling there.
Clashes also erupted in other parts of Tamil Nadu, like Madurai, where police were seen dragging pro-Jallikattu protesters away from the demonstration site.
At Coimbatore, police forcibly evicted the protesters from VOC Park Grounds here where they were agitating for the last six days.
In a bid to calm the situation, the Tamil Nadu government announced that the much-expected bill to replace its Jallikattu ordinance will be tabled in the state assembly on Monday evening.
The news was announced by Speaker P Dhanapal who said "considering the situation, the bill will be moved when the House meets at 5 pm today."
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Business Advisory Council which decides on the agenda and duration of a particular session of the state assembly.
