Chennai: Train traffic and normalcy was affected in greater Chennai for the third consecutive day with DMK and opposition parties staging protests on arterial roads and railway stations.
Koyambedu wholesale market and the commercial hub T Nagar remained closed adding tension across Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu. Marina and Beasant Nagar beach were also cordoned off by police.
Retailers, vendors and small-scale industries in Delta districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Tiruchirappalli, and Karur, shut shop. Advocates in Chennai, Kumbakonam and Madurai raised slogans criticising the Centre for delaying the formation of Cauvery water management board. A few of them also abstained from attending courts. In Chennai, DMK MLAs held protest demonstrations across the city throwing peak hour traffic out of gear.
Trains were detained at Egmore railway station by the by cadres of pro-Tamil outfits and at Villupuram, cadres of Nam Tamizhar party stopped the express train. North Chennai DMK members also blocked the trains at Korrukupet railway station. However, normalcy was resumed within an hour and the demonstrators were arrested.
According to Chennai city police, as many as 5,256 demonstrators mostly from the DMK were arrested and later released. There were no untoward in Chennai and the traffic was cleared without major delay and for security reasons the public are not allowed to gather at the shores of Marina and Beasant Nagar beach, police sources said.
