Chennai: The Chennai police briefly held DMK working president M.K. Stalin and other opposition leaders for protesting at Valluvar Kottam on Sunday.
Immediately after, the all-party meeting headed by major opposition party DMK, the leaders and their followers gathered near Valluvar Kottam staged a road roko demanding the formation of Cauvery Management Board and raised slogans against the state and central governments.
The traffic on the important junction that connects Nungambakkam, Kodambakkam and T. Nagar had come to standstill for more than 30 minutes. Not a vehicle moved on the arterial roads over a 5-km radius.
Meanwhile, hundreds of police had been deployed in the spot to prevent untoward incidents. Some party workers lay down on the road and blocked vehicle movement.
Sensing the seriousness of the situaton, the police arrested 14 MLAs including M.K. Stalin, Ponmudi, Duraimurugan, K.R. Ramasamy, Abubakkar and others. The police also arrested Tamil Nadu Congress President S. Thirunavukarasar, VCK leader Thirumavalavan, CPI state secretary R. Mutharasan, CPI (M) state secretary K. Balakrishnan and cleared the road for traffic movement.
According to police sources, as many as 1,000 cadres of various parties were arrested with the leaders. Of the total arrested, 200 were women. All the protesters were released in the evening.
