Anti-KNPP protests turn violent, one killed in police firing

A 44-year old fisherman was killed when police opened fire at a group of people who clashed with them while blocking a road in Manapad coastal village as the protest spilled to neighbouring Tuticorin District, police said.

At Kudankulam in Tirunelveli District, the main scene of protests for the last two days, police resorted to lathicharge and burst teargas shells to disperse over 2,000 protesters who fought pitched battles throwing stones and logs.

As the baton-wielding policemen chased away the protesters, many of them moved towards the sea to escape.

Sporadic violence then followed as enraged groups of protesters set fire to a local Panchayat office, the Village Administrative Officer's office and a state-run liquor retail shop in Kudankulam, in an ugly turn to the over year-long peaceful protest, police said.

The police action followed after authorities failed to persuade the protesters who, for the second day, defied prohibitory orders and stayed put at the seashore, about 500 metres away from the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.

Tuticorin, about 80 km from here, also saw about 500 people block the Mysore-bound train by squatting on the track, as also the highway connecting Nagercoil.

Condeming the police action, People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, spearheading the protest against KNPP, announced a 48-hour relay fast against it. MORE