Over 3,500 government employees were arrested today in three districts of Coimbatore, Tirupur and Niligirs, when they tried to picket in front of the respective District Collectorates, seeking to implement their charter of demands. They had been on a strike for the last one week.

The employees, affiliated to different unions, raised slogans in support of their 20-point demands. On receiving no response from the state government, the protesters, mainly women, intensified their agitation. They gathered in front of the district collectorates and raised slogans.

While more than a thousand protesters were arrested in Coimbatore, nearly 1,500 were picked up by the police in Tirupur, and about 1,000 in Udhgamandalam in Nilgiris district.