Three police personnel, including an Inspector of Police, sustained bleeding injuries in stone pelting by a group of protestors at Nagercoil in Kanniyakumari district on Monday.
Demanding patta for the land on which they had built their houses, the 250-odd Arunthathiyar families on Arunthathiyar Street in ward 14 of Nagercoil Corporation had submitted several petitions to officials, in vain. When they were about to stage a demonstration to highlight their demand on Monday, Vadaseri police held talks with them.
As they were raising slogans, some of them, including women and children, sat on the busy road and blocked vehicular traffic. Even after Deputy Superintendent of Police, Nagercoil, Naveen Kumar and Tahsildar Rajesh held talks with the protestors, the agitation continued.
When a 30-year-old protestor poured kerosene on his body in a bid to immolate himself, the police snatched the plastic fuel can from him and drenched him with water. After the police’s effort to remove the protestors from the road failed, they started arresting them for disrupting vehicular traffic.
When the police were escorting the arrested protestors to a mini bus parked nearby, others verbally abused the policemen and got involved in a scuffle with them. They also pelted stones on the police personnel and the mini bus, damaging the windscreens of the bus. Three law-enforcers, including Inspector Ramar of Kottar police station, sustained bleeding injuries in stone pelting.
With the situation looked uncontrollable, the police used mild force to disperse the protestors. Those who attacked the policemen and organised the road blockade were detained. Vadaseri police are investigating.