Chennai: The Opposition parties including Congress, Left and VCK on Thursday condemned the arrest of DMK working president M.K. Stalin. The human chain protests announced by the DMK and supported by other Opposition parties were held in the city and suburbs with thousands of activists taking part in them. TNCC president S. Thirunavukkarasar said human chain protests are within the democratic norms and denying permission for such an agitation is against democracy.
CPM state secretary G. Ramakrishnan said the AIADMK government is suppressing all kinds of protests and added that such an approach is not right in a democracy. CPI state secretary who condemned the arrest said such oppressive measures would lead to strong reactions in democracy.
Already the state government had arrested democratic protesters under the Goondas Act. Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol. Thirumavalavan asked how Stalin could be arrested when section 144 had not been promulgated in Salem. Dravidar Kazhagam president K. Veeramani said the state government should have used the human chain protests of opposition parties to convey the sentiments of Tamil Nadu to the Union government.
Meanwhile, Thousands of activists belonging to the DMK, Congress, Left parties and VCK on Thursday took part in the human chain protest in the city, besides headquarters of all the districts throughout the state.
The protesters joined hands for a distance of 12 km from Pallavaram to Vandalur. Besides, DMK MLAs J. Anbazhagan led the protest in Anna road, while former Mayor M. Subramanian headed the agitations in his constituency Saidapet. Another MLA P.K. Sekarbabu led the agitations in Broadway.
The protests were held in Royapuram, Madhavaram, Avadi, Tiruvallur, Poonamalee, Purasawalkam, Perambur and Kolathur. Besides, DMK activists, cadres of Congress, VCK, Dravidar Kazhagam and CPI took part in the agitations.
