Police action creates chaos

Even as the peaceful protests on the Marina were coming to a smooth end on the day when the Assembly was set to pass a bill facilitating the enactment of a legislation in favour of jallikattu, the sudden police ‘excess’ turned it into a mayhem.

Turning the war-like situation to their advantage, a group of anti-socials unleashed violence and went on a rampage destroying public property. The riots brought the whole city to a standstill. Goons had a free run blocking all roads, a majority of them arterial, at their will and attacked any vehicle that tried to move. MTC withdrew its services and some crew were forced to halt the buses midway. Passengers had to run for their safety. 

Students and office-goers had a scary time as no mode of transport, except the suburban EMUs, was available. A number of motorists parked their vehicles in safe zones and walked either to their offices or homes. The police action on Monday clearly proved the lack of planning on their part, thorough intelligence failure and scant regard for the safety and security of the public. Activists alleged that the strong arm tactics were to get the Kamarajar Salai cleared for the Republic Day parade. 

Trouble started after police tried remove the protesters from the Marina using force. Though cops claimed that they did not even carry batons, visuals from Marina exposed their excesses and theywere seen pushing protesters, who refused to leave the site. During this commotion, anti-social elements, who had been waiting for a chance to unleash violence, started attacking police in bylanes near Triplicane and Ice House. Some of them hurled petrol bombs and were weilding other deadly weapons. They also set fire to two-wheelers, damaged police vehicles. It culminated with the burning of Ice House police station. 

“We did not use force, but we did not want to let people take over public space for any longer. We had to get the area cleared before the Republic Day. The protesters’ demands had been met and there was no reason for them to continue at the venue,” a senior police official said. A few policemen were seen allegedly torching vehicles and even entering the houses in fishermen localities like Nadukuppam and breaking doors in the guise of ‘searching’ the houses. All these were recorded in the footage that was relased on social media.