TIRUCHY: Hours after after they dumped loads of ladies’ finger on the road to register their protest against the sharp fall in the price of the produce, the police in Tiruchy booked the farmers under various IPC sections, including rioting, late on Monday night.

What triggered the protest was a drastic fall in the price of ladies’ finger, to as low as Rs 3 per kg. After distributing it to the people for free, the despair-ridden farmers dumped the remaining stock on the road and staged a protest.

They said the effort was to ensure profitable price for agricultural produce as promised by the Prime Minister. A police team that came to the spot tried to stop the farmers from dumping it on the road, which led to a heated argument between the police and the farmers.

The protest and the argument disrupted traffic at Chinthamani for more than an hour. Following this, the police arrested 52 farmers, including two women, and released them in the evening.

On Monday night, the Fort police registered a case against 61 farmers from Desiya Thenninthiya Nadhigal Inaippu Sangam, including its State president P Ayyakannu, under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 504 (insulting someone intentionally and provoking), 346 (wrongfully confining people) and 268 (public nuisance).

On Tuesday, the farmers staged a mock funeral protest and attempted to stage a march from Chinthamani to Oyamari crematorium but they were stopped by the police.