Traffic at Broadway and surrounding areas was affected on Monday following a massive lawyers’ protest near the Madras High Court.
Thousands of lawyers from different parts of the State staged a protest in front of the High Court demanding immediate withdrawal of a recent amendment to the Statutory rules that empower judges to debar erring lawyers.
As the protest started around 9.30 a.m., office-goers were the worst affected as roads were blocked and many had to walk to their destination. The traffic was badly hit till the afternoon and the blockade remained till late in the evening when the protesting lawyers were detained.
“The entire Muthusamy Road, North Fort Road, the Esplanade Road and part of NSC Bose Road heading to Flower Bazaar police station was blocked for traffic. The service road above the RBI subway was also blocked. However, traffic was stopped on the other side of NSC Bose Road for sometime after the protesters started to push through barricades.” said a police officer.
‘Unexpected’Due to this, people heading to Broadway and nearby localities had to walk as vehicles were stopped at the signal near the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital itself. “I had to purchase hardware from Broadway and had to walk all the way with the load as I did not expect this sudden blockade,” said K. Abdul, who runs a hardware shop at Mandaveli.
The Broadway bus terminus was emptied and police vehicles were parked inside. “Many buses were operated from a point near the Beach railway station. Many vehicles were diverted through smaller roads at Broadway,” Abdul said.
“I saw the news about the protest and decided to travel by train to my office on North Beach Road,” said Ramaswamy Subramanian, a marketing executive.
