8 years ago
Chennai:
A person was killed in Tuticorin as police opened fire at protesters demanding the closure of Sterlite copper plant in the port city, a day after 10 people were killed in similar clashes. Several others were injured in today's fresh firing as the month-long protest took a violent turn on Tuesday. Actors-turned-politicians Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth came out in support of the protesters. The two leaders also visited the people injured at the General Hospital. The Madras High Court stayed the expansion of Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit a day after the Tuticorin violence killed 10 people. Sterlite has been planning to build a second plant with aims to double production capacity.
The ruling AIADMK government issued appeals for calm and a promise to take legal action against the plant. The opposition DMK compared the use of force by the police to the massacre at Punjab's Jallianwalla Bagh by the British nearly a hundred years ago. The CPI(M) joined the protesters in demanding the shut down of the Sterlite plant. The Congress party called the violence a failure of the AIADMK government, and said that the "state government and state police should be held responsible for this massacre".
Congress president Rahul Gandhi had earlier called the police action "state sponsored terrorism". The gunning down by the police of 9 people in the Sterlite Protest in Tamil Nadu, is a brutal example of state sponsored terrorism. These citizens were murdered for protesting against injustice," he tweeted.
The ruling AIADMK government issued appeals for calm and a promise to take legal action against the plant. The opposition DMK compared the use of force by the police to the massacre at Punjab's Jallianwalla Bagh by the British nearly a hundred years ago. The CPI(M) joined the protesters in demanding the shut down of the Sterlite plant. The Congress party called the violence a failure of the AIADMK government, and said that the "state government and state police should be held responsible for this massacre".
Congress president Rahul Gandhi had earlier called the police action "state sponsored terrorism". The gunning down by the police of 9 people in the Sterlite Protest in Tamil Nadu, is a brutal example of state sponsored terrorism. These citizens were murdered for protesting against injustice," he tweeted.
