Protest at TN House against killings in Tuticorin

Citizens' groups and students' organisations staged a protest outside the Tamil Nadu Bhawan at Chanakyapuri here today, condemning the Tamil Nadu government for the killing of the anti-Sterlite plant agitators in Tuticorin in police firing.

Over 60 protesters raised slogans and demanded parleys with the Principal Resident Commissioner of Tamil Nadu, Jasbir Singh Bajaj.

The security, however, put up barricades and prevented them from entering the campus.

Shutting down the Sterlite plant in Tuticorin, a judicial inquiry into the police firing, action against police officers, an independent inquiry into the company's financing by the comptroller and auditor-general (CAG) were some of the demands of the protesters.

Representatives of the All India Students' Federation, Muslim Yuva Morcha, National Alliance of People's Movements, All India Students' Association, JNU Students' Union and Students Islamic Organisation of India took part in the protest.

The months-long protest in Tuticorin, demanding the closure of Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit, took a violent turn yesterday with agitators pelting stones and toppling police vehicles after they were prevented from marching towards the plant.

Eleven protesters have been killed in police firing.