Despite the closure of educational institutions, students from various colleges staged a series of protests in connection with the Sri Lankan Tamils issue in Madurai on Monday.
The protests were, by and large, peaceful though a group of students of Government Law College attempted to lay siege to the branch of a nationalised bank on Melur Road. Security personnel locked the bank door when they saw the students locking the gate of the premises. Even as students picked up a quarrel with the bank staff, the police arrived and secured them.
Students of Mannar Tirumalai Naicker College and Sourashtra College took out a procession from Tirupparankundram to Periyar Bus Stand.
The students staged a demonstration near the Kattabomman statue.
Students of Agriculture College and Research Institute in Othakadai went on strike. Similarly, students of Kamaraj College of Engineering kept off classes and handed over a memorandum to the Tirumangalam Tahsildar, the police said.
The students demanded a separate Tamil State in Sri Lanka and wanted to hold a referendum on the issue. They also voiced their protest against the US moving a resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Sri Lankan issue.
Students of Thiagarajar College and Raja College of Engineering also took out rallies to show their support to the cause of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
Tamilaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam cadre staged a demonstration in front of the Railway junction demanding that the Centre move a separate resolution at the UNHRC, and sought an independent probe into human rights violations by the Sri Lankan armed forces.
Workers engaged in making ropes, under the aegis of the Madurai District Nool Kayaru Thirikkum Thozhilalar Sangam, went on a token strike and staged a demonstration in the city.
