Agitated over the arrest of four youths from Idinthakarai and Kooththenkuzhi on Friday night, the Anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project Struggle Committee on Saturday announced that it would resume the sea-based agitation on Monday.
Simultaneously, anti-nuclear activists of neighbouring Kanyakumari and Tuticorin districts would block arterial roads demanding the scrapping of the nuclear power project.
Condemning the arrest of the youths, fishermen of the district abstained from fishing on Saturday.
This is the second such agitation by the protesters, who mobilised around 700 boats carrying protesters near the dyke of the KKNPP on October 8.
Though there was no plan till Friday afternoon for a sea-based agitation, the arrest of the youths prompted the protesters to decide in favour of a protest on the World Human Rights Day. This is in addition to the plan to block all arterial thoroughfares across Tamil Nadu decided earlier.
Interrogation
C. Deepak, S. Ranjit, M. Dalton, S. Pradeesh, S. Prashanth, S. Kingston, all from Idinthakarai, and D. Froshan of Kooththenkuzhi were detained for interrogation on Friday evening when they were found “moving around in a suspicious manner” near Radhapuram.
During the interrogation they found that Ranjit, Kingston, Pradeesh and Froshan “had played an active role” in the anti-KKNPP struggle, and “were involved in violent incidents that took place after the protesters clashed with the police on the Idinthakarai beach on September 10.”
All of them were arrested.
Later, Deepak, Dalton and Prashanth were let off, according to police sources.
Tension in coastal hamlets
The arrests triggered tension in the coastal hamlets and a meeting was convened at Idinthakarai, the protest hub, on Saturday evening, where it was decided that the fishermen of the district would “lay siege to the KKNPP complex via sea” on Monday while their counterparts in Tuticorin and Kanyakumari districts would join anti-nuke activists in the road roko.
Withdraw cases
“Besides scrapping the nuclear power project, cases registered against the anti-nuke protesters should be withdrawn and the imprisoned activists released unconditionally,” a resolution in the meeting at Idinthakarai demanded.
