May 25, 2018
Chennai : Opposition bandh, called by the DMK and other parties, on Friday evoked mixed response with little or no impact on normal life in Tamil Nadu. The bandh was called in protest against police firing in Tuticorin on those protesting against Sterlite copper smelting plant.
The DMK had called for a dawn-to-dusk strike in protest against then killings of 13 Sterlite protesters by police that fired indiscriminately. While the opposition condemned the police action, chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami defended the police action saying that there was no other way to bring the situation under control in Tuticorin.
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But the bandh itself was visible fleetingly and there was hardly any impact on the normal lives of the people as buses and trains operated as usual. Autos and taxies too plied normally barring the ones affiliated with opposition affiliated union staying off the roads.
In Tuticorin, shops and hotel remain closed from Tuesday onwards after the police firing, according to S.Raja, office bearer of the traders association. Few stray incidents of stone throwing were reported from Tuticorin, Kanyakumari and Nagapattinam.