Governance

Tamil Nadu on boil as pro-Jallikattu protesters clash with police

Protesters in Chennai set Ice House police station on fire after they clashed with police in front of Parthasarathy Temple near Marina Beach

 
By DTE Staff
Published: Monday 23 January 2017
Tamil Nadu government promulgated an ordinance on January 21 to allow Jallikattu in the state. Credit: Jaskirat Singh Bawa/ Flicker__

Tamil Nadu is once again on the boil. Violence erupted in Chennai and a few other places in Tamil Nadu today morning after police started evicting pro-Jallikattu protesters. A standoff between the police and the protesters started around 6am.

About 50 protesters set Ice House police station on fire after they clashed with police in front of Parthasarathy Temple arch near Marina Beach. Protesters set tyres on fire and threw them at police. Around 15 bikes parked in front of the police station also went up in flames. At least 22 policemen were injured when the protesters started pelting stones at them.

Protesters also hurled petrol bombs at Presidency College. Traffic on East Coast Road (ECR) and Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) has been heavily affected with protesters, including techies, blocking the roads.

The situation is also tense in Alanganallur and Tamukkam Ground in Madurai and in Coimbatore. Police have detained nearly 300 students in Coimbatore after they refused to go back home and are continued to protest.  

Given the building up of a “mass movement” and “spontaneous outpouring of emotion”, the Tamil Nadu government promulgated an ordinance on January 21 to allow Jallikattu in the state. A Bill to replace the ordinance would be placed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly soon.

While the state government was persuaded to see Jallikattu through the prism of cruelty on animals and a blatant defiance of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act,1960, the supporters of this animal sport consider it as an age-long “tradition” that ahs to be preserved.

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