The continuing protest in Tuticorin has led to the death of 12 persons as police ultimately decided to take help of bullets against the uncontrollable public. Initially, armed forces were taking help of tear gas and lathicharge but now things have gone out of their hands. The protest is regarding the permanent closure of Sterlite plant of copper which holds a huge capacity to provide copper and employment both. The protesters are the one who set the rampage and wants the company to shut as they believe that the industry is causing a great damage to the environment and that it should be closed permanently rather than getting closed for few weeks.
People have been protesting for more than three months now claiming that company has polluted the groundwater because of uncultured and under processed dumping.
The protests got intensified after getting the reports that the group was demanding the license for expansion as the initial 25-year license has come to an end. Getting known about the number of deaths, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami later ordered a judicial inquiry into the violence and police firing. He also appealed for calm and promised to take necessary action in line with the demand of the people.
Rahul Gandhi tweeted about the concerned incident and declared it as state-sponsored terrorism. He said that government is shutting public’s voice against injustice and that it is completely wrong.
The gunning down by the police of 9 people in the #SterliteProtest in Tamil Nadu, is a brutal example of state sponsored terrorism. These citizens were murdered for protesting against injustice. My thoughts & prayers are with the families of these martyrs and the injured.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 22, 2018
In response, Palaniswami said, “The police had to take action under unavoidable circumstances to protect public life and property as the protesters resorted to repeated violence… police had to control the violence.”
SC has stopped any further progress for the company due to the violent actions and loss of lives.
Big stars including Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan are supporting the strike and believes in protecting the environment and keeping it above all selfish demands of development.
