: A sea of humanity descended on all four roads leading to the MGR statue junction at Cantonment that remained the epicentre of protest in Tiruchi on Friday with hundreds of student groups, social, cultural and community organisations and forums taking out massive pro-jallikattu rallies to express solidarity to the student protesters, who were on warpath since Wednesday.
Massive protests continued to rock Central districts including Thanjavur, Karur, Tiruvarur, Pudukottai, Ariyalur and Perambalur for the third consecutive day on Friday. According to the police, the number of protests and protesters had seen four-fold increase on Friday when compared to the first day protests on Wednesday. In addition to the numerous rallies taken out in different cities, towns and villages, protests were held in at least 429 places in Central districts including Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Karur, Tiruvarur, Pudukottai, Ariyalur and Perambalur.
According to rough estimates, about 3 lakh persons participated in the unprecedented, peaceful but vociferous protests in these districts. Of eight districts, Tiruchi district witnessed a huge turnout with the participation of about 75,000 protesters followed by Thanjavur with about 50,000 protesters. Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam attracted huge turnout of protesters.
Wednesday’s protest saw the participation of spontaneous groups from different walks of life. In Tiruchi district, protests were held at about 100 places including Samayapuram, Mannachanallur, Musiri, Manapparai, Thottiyam, Thuraiyur, Lalgudi, Vaiyampatti, Thurvarankurichi and Pullambadi. Besides students, who took out rallies near their respective institutions, the people of various towns and villages carried out rallies.
In Tiruchi, the MGR statue junction on Bharathidasan road remained the focal point of the protest with the participation of many people, who stayed put overnight on roads braving chill weather. The students, who were resolute in their demand on lifting ban on jallikattu, slept on road with minimum protective cloths.
The surprising element of Friday’s protest was the massive support extended by innumerable groups of different walks of life in Tiruchi to the students. Some came as families and groups of friends and relatives. The streets of Tiruchi and the MGR statue junction reverberated with angry, aggressive but self regulated groups taking out anti-Centre and State government rallies by beating drums and dancing to music.
The protest rallies that reached MGR statue on Friday morning remained unabated late in the evening. The crowd continued to swell as the day progressed with people of various walks of life including lawyers, doctors, engineers, farmers, pharmacists, traders, merchants and others reaching the MGR statue. Dancing to the tunes of drums, the aggressive protesters trickled in droves to the protest arena to express solidarity with the student protesters, indicating that the protest started with a small group of student has turned out to be a massive movement.
Carrying placards and banners, they raised slogans against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam for failing to ensure conduct of jallikattu. Members of various families including women, children and elders throng the spot in groups. They vent their anger against the State and Central governments. Crowds roared on several occasions whenever bulls were brought it to the protest venue.
“We cannot confine in homes when our children are protesting for the protection of Tamil culture. The Centre can no longer be a spectator in the issue,” said K. Sagunthala (42) of Ariyamangalam, who led a group of Self Help Group women.
“It is not just jallikattu, we feel that step-motherly treatment was meted out on various issues in the State. The protest will send a strong signal,” said A. Merlin, a self employed person.
Groups of protesters worked in tandem in regulating traffic along with police and clearing the way for ambulances. Several organisations and individuals supplied food, water and biscuits packets to the protesters.
Though the protesting crowd reached to an all time high in the history of Tiruchi, there was no untoward incident as the protesters ensured total discipline, except an incident of a few miscreants barging into the premises of All India Radio.
