Hundreds of workers of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), protesting for sites and houses for the poor people, were arrested here on Friday. The police took leaders of the organisation including CITU State president S.Varalakshmi into custody, after a heated argument and scuffle.
Many women and men from different villages of the district had joined the protest, which began with a meeting at Hemavati Statue Circle. Ms.Varalakshmi inaugurated the march to the Deputy Commissioner’s office with her speech. The protesters followed her, raising slogans. They demanded sites, houses and land for the poor. “Land is our right”, was the slogan they raised. The CITU and its organisations had convened several meetings in the district to appeal the poor to submit applications seeking houses and sites in the last one month. They motivated the people to join the protest.
As they reached the DC’s office, the police stopped them at the gates. A few leaders tried to move into the DC’s office complex to lay siege to the office, but the police stopped them and bundled them into the police vehicles. CITU district president Dharmesh, Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha district president H.R. Naveen Kumar and others were arrested.
The protesters had a heated argument with the police when a few women constables pulled women protesters, including Varalakshmi, by their hair. Varalakshmi slapped the constable, which prompted other policemen to join hands to beat her up. The police lifted her to a private vehicle and took her to DAR grounds along with other protesters.
The police could not take all protesters into custody at one go. While half of the protesters were taken into custody, the rest continued their protest demanding that those arrested be released immediately. Deputy Commissioner V.Chaitra met them and received a memorandum from them.
