CHENNAI: Apart from massive protest on the sprawling Marina beach, the city on Wednesday witnessed several protests, road blockades, and picketing demanding the conduct of jallikattu.
Even as the number of protesters increased by the minute, the students of colleges boycotted classes and blocked the roads.
Over 500 students of Pachiyappa’s College staged a protest blocking the arterial Poonamallee High Road in forenoon of Wednesday.
Students of Thiyagarajar Government Arts College in Washermenpet, Dr. Ambedkar Goverment Arts College in Vyasarpadi, Kandasamy Naidu College for Men, Anna Nagar, followed suit. Students from Vivekananda College and Loyola College joined the in the agitation.
Over 1,000 students gathered in front of the Avadi Municipality and indulged in sloganeering. They took out a procession towards Marina beach. Similarly, students of A.M. Jain college squatted on the G.S.T. Road near Meenambakkam and took out a procession. Demanding the conduct of jallikattu, students in Madavaram, Poonamallee, and other areas came out of their classes and protested on the arterial roads.
Traffic went out of gear on Kamarajar Road, known as Marina Beach Road, where students gathered in large numbers since Tuesday morning. Traffic was disrupted on Poonamallee High Road with the college students blocking the road from Wednesday morning. Traffic was crippled on Old Mahabalipuram Road where engineering and other college students hit the streets. A large number of employees on IT corridor from TIDEL Park to Kelampakkam formed human chain.
Even Anna Salai and other surrounding lanes were not free of traffic blocks. The motorists had tough time to cross any stretch of city. The vehicles were moving at a snail’s pace from Wednesday morning.
