Fishermen in Nagapattinam, Karaikal keep off sea

Fisherfolk in Nagapattinam and Karaikal kept off the sea on Wednesday, protesting the ‘detention' of their colleagues from Nagapattinam by Sri Lankan fishermen, who handed them over to Sri Lankan Navy.

The DMK and the Congress staged demonstrations here condemning the incident.

About 3000 DMK workers courted arrest. The Congress called for immediate release of all the 112 fishermen and their 18 boats. It also called for a joint surveillance of the high seas by Indian and Sri Lankan Navy.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) cadre led by MLA V. Marimuthu courted arrest after they attempted a road blockade.

Similar incident

Speaking to

TheHindu here on Wednesday, a fisherman, who is said to have wriggled out of a similar attack by “five steamers of Sri Lankan fishermen,” on Sunday morning, alleged there was “well-armed” Sri Lankan fisherfolk in the sea.

According to Kalaiselvan of Akkarapettai, he along with two others were fishing along the Sethusamudaram project area in a trawler, when about 25 Sri Lankan fishermen arrived in five steamers and hurled stones, whooshed sickles and threatened to hurl petrol bombs. “We veered around our boats even as the Sinhala fishermen yelled at us to stop and collect our nets. But, we knew they had petrol bombs and sickles, so we just wanted to save our lives.”