THOOTHUKUDI: Ten people including a woman and a teenaged girl were killed in police firing as the anti-Sterlite procession in Thoothukudi on Tuesday turned violent. Starting from ‘Our Lady of Snows’ Church in the coastal area, 20,000 people marched to lay siege to the collector’s office. They were demanding permanent closure of the copper manufacturing company over pollution concerns.
The protests were going on in Tuticorin for over three months now, but violence erupted on Tuesday with agitators fighting pitched battles with police, prompting it to open fire. Hurling stones and setting government vehicles and public property on fire, the agitators went on the rampage in the town. Nine persons were killed in the police firing on the 20,000-strong protestors who ransacked the district collector’s office and set fire to vehicles while one fell to bullets when the protestors lay siege to the camp office of the district superintendent of police. Chief Minister K. Palaniswami, who also holds home portfolio, announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of each of the deceased, and ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Earlier in the day, the protesters marched from Our Lady of Snows church to lay siege to the district collector’s office demanding the permanent closure of the copper smelter plant of Sterlite belonging to Vedanta group, defying prohibitory orders. The police which tried to stop the march were pelted with stones. Around one-km away, a 50-member police team led by the Tirunelveli district superintendent of police Arun Sakthikumar tried to stop the procession from going near the district collector's office. The police too fired tear gas at the protesters. The mob, however, could not be controlled and attacked the policemen.
Having driven away the police, the protesters had a cake walk to the collector's office and ransacked it. Around 25 two-wheelers of the collectorate staff were burnt. As the situation went out of control, the regrouped police resorted to firing in which eight---Jeyaraman of Usilampatti, Kandhaiah of Ceylone colony, Glaston of Lourdham-malpuram, 16-year-old girl Venista, Tamilarasan of Kurukkuchalai, Shan-mugam of Masilam-anipuram, and V Antony Selvaraj and Maniraj of Thoothukudi—were killed. Karthik, II year student of Kamaraj College, succumbed to injuries in GH. Later as a fishermen mob tried to lay siege to the camp office of Thoothukudi district police superintendent on the Beach Road, police opened fire in which 29-year-old Vinitha, wife of Joseph, was killed.
