Coimbatore protesters forcibly evicted

The commotion between cops and the agitators continued till evening on Monday in various parts of the city. According to sources, close to 200 students and men were evicted around 8.15 am on Monday. But, the number of protesters who had assembled at the venue was around 10,000 at 1 am on Monday. By 6 am students and members of various outfits divided themselves into two groups. The Race Course police appealed the protesters to leave the place around 7.10 am. But the protesters refused to heed the cops and insisted that the would leave only after the bill was passed in the Assembly. 

Following this, when police tried to forcibly remove them, they blocked the Avinashi Road. Police were forced to resort to a mild lathi charge to clear the protesters and arrested 20 of them. In a simultaneous action, cops sealed all roads leading to the protest venue. This action of police went viral in the social media and evoked angry reactions from all over the city. Students from a couple of private colleges took to streets and pelted stones on policemen.  

At noon, a few men pelted stones on a government bus in the Gandhipuram town bus stand. In a subsequent action, cops caned and chased protesters on the entire Dr Nanjappa Road. Soon after, members of a few political parties came into the scene and took out a march to Gandhipuram Junction condemning the police. Within minutes the rally became massive as 1,000 more joined and the traffic came to a standstill at the busy junction. 

Since the protesters refused to disperse, police arrested a few of them. This triggered tension and some members of the process laid siege to a police escort vehicle. As the situation was going out of control, the police resorted to a lathi charge. A section of the protesters in retaliation pelted stones on police and newsmen. More than 10 youth suffered bleeding injuries on their head in the police lathi-charge. S Lakshmi, DCP (L&O) also suffered bleeding injuries to her leg after one of the stones landed on her limbs. As many as 750 persons including 68 girls and women were arrested for disturbing normalcy in the city.

Punjabi joins protest as mark of gratitude to Tamil Nadu

The protest in Coimbatore was not restricted to Tamils alone, even those who had born and brought in Tamil Nadu also joined the chorus for the jallikattu. Spotted among the crowd of protesters was Tony Singh (59) a businessman and a native of Punjab, who had settled in Coimbatore some five decades ago. He had been there reportedly from Day One of the protest.  

On Monday morning, he came to know that his fellow protesters were among those who were arrested by the police. “I was at the spot of protest here till 3.15 am and the situation was under control. But a few minutes after I reached home, I was informed about the developments. I rushed immediately but by the time I reached the spot, the protesters had already been removed from the spot. I was disappointed as I too wanted to go along with them,” he said.  

Tony Singh was just 3-years-old when his parents relocated to Coimbatore from Punjab in 1960. His father Khem Singh Anand came here to help his brother in his business and the family settled here. “I did my schooling and college in Kovai and set up my businesses too. My children too are here with their families. Coimbatore and Tamil Nadu have given a lot to me and I thought this (protest) is an opportunity to protect the culture of the State that has been providing everything for me for more than five decades,” he said.