Violence erupted in Pottalurani in Ottapidaram Assembly segment falling under Thoothukudi Lok Sabha constituency as armed men entered the village when the villagers were staging a protest boycotting polling.
More than 900 voters in the village boycotted the polling as their demand to close fish processing units located near their village remains unfulfilled for several years. Only 23 votes — seven of the voters and 16 Election Duty Certificates (EDCs) — were registered, sources said.
As the villagers had announced the poll boycott, they resorted to a sit-in protest on Friday. As they were demanding talks with the District Election Officer or the General Observer over their demands, Tamil Nadu Minister for Fisheries Anitha R. Radhakrishnan who went there to hold talks with them was not allowed into the village.
Following that, a group of people with masks carrying weapons like bottles, wooden logs and knives entered the village in an SUV to attack the protesters.
“The villagers chased them away. The police who were deployed at the village to prevent any untoward incident were just watching the happenings,” said E. Sankaranarayanan, a villager.
“When we questioned the police about not acting against the goons, they said that they were deployed only for election duty and that the people should protect themselves,” he added.
Later, another team of police personnel, who secured the goons, went to the village in a police vehicle along with the SUV used by the goons, he said.
Mr. Sankaranarayanan asked why the police should enter the village with the goons they secured despite knowing that there would be commotion. As speculated, he said, the villagers pounced on the police vehicle and damaged the SUV with stones.
“The police wanted to incite violence to conduct a re-election, so that the people could be convinced in the meanwhile,” he added.
Another villager said the villagers’ demand was watered down in the commotion that ensued following the Minister’s visit.
Later, Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police L. Balaji Saravanan held talks with the protesters, following which the police vehicle with the secured men were released by the villagers.
Another villager, Shanmugam, said, the SP and other police officials only intimidated them rather than trying to solve the issue.
“When they could have arrested the goons, they were just waiting for the people’s reaction,” he added. “When the whole village was protesting, the police tried to frame particular individuals as being responsible for the protest and the commotion,” the protesters said.
A senior police official said they would act against the armed men once the villagers filed a complaint.
Speaking to The Hindu, District Election officer and Collector G. Lakshmipathy said they had not received any petitions regarding the villagers’ demand for closure of the fish processing units.
“As this is a local issue, it does not have anything to do with the election. So, we have informed the revenue officials to conduct a peace meeting with the people,” he added.
