Half a lakh joins Kovai protest

In Coimbatore, the crowd was close to 50,000, including more than 10,000 girls, at the VOC grounds, the protest venue. Despite announcement by the Chief Minister that efforts were being made to conduct the sport, more protestors started thronging the VOC Grounds. 

A variety of activities like drum beating, singing songs, vehicle rallies, procession etc formed part of the protests in the city. A few jallikattu bulls and rekla carts were also brought to the spot. More than 8,000 police personnel were deployed for peaceful conduct of the bandh. The turnout in Salem was over 25,000. Traffic was completely affected for the third consecutive day in the Steel City. 

The Bengaluru-Karaikudi passenger was blocked by students near the Salem Town station at 1.15 pm on Thursday could not be released till the late hours of Friday. Thousands of protestors thronged Kondalampatti roundabout in Salem, on the Bengaluru National Highway. Tense moments prevailed as a bull was suddenly released on the highway to conduct a mock jallikattu. 

At Rasipuram in Namakkal district the protestors poured soft drinks to show their protest to international companies operating in the country. Interestingly, none of the protesters carried soft drinks of any leading brands.  Thousands of students staged mass protests in Erode, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri as well. 

The protests took a severe toll on the inter-state movement of buses to Kerala through Walayar in Coimbatore and to Karnataka through Krishnagiri. However, bus and transport services through these routes resumed around 5.30 pm. Diversion of trains added to the hardships faced by people. With schools declaring holiday on Friday, it turned out to be a ‘fun and fight’ time for children, who turned up at the protest venue in Kovai. 

“The children’s help in waving placards and distributing pamphlets, besides shouting slogans proved to be a morale booster to us,” said R. Sabari (22) who is taking part from day one (Tuesday). Subramani (40) an electrician brought a UPS along with a set of plugs to charge mobile phones.