Thanjavur: Police detained former Union Minister TR Baalu and over 1,200 DMK workers for burning the effigy of Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanabal at three places and resorting to road-blockades at 40 places across the district today.

The DMK cadre resorted to this agitation condemning the alleged attack on the party’s Working President MK Stalin in the Assembly when he, along with other party MLAs, was evicted on the orders of Speaker Dhanapal.

Led by Baalu, a group of party workers burnt the effigy of Speaker Dhanapal near the Anna statue in Thanjavur, triggering tension in the area. Subsequently, police arrested Baalu and 44 others. Similarly, 35 persons, including two women, were arrested when they burnt the effigy of Dhanapal. They were led by the party’s Urban District Secretary TKG Neelamegam.

In Kumbakonam, 250 DMK workers including ten women were arrested when they burnt the effigy of Speaker Dhanapal near the Uchi Pillaiyar temple. They also squatted on the road disrupting vehicular traffic on the main road. They were led by the party’s North District Secretary S Kalyanasundaram.

Violence broke out in Tamil Nadu Assembly as Speaker Dhanapal announced that the trust vote would go ahead, rejecting Stalin’s demand for secret voting.

Displaying his torn shirt to the cameras, Stalin, who was evicted from the Assembly, alleged that his party MLAs were manhandled on the orders of the ruling party and he was pulled out of the Assembly.