The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Office-goers bear the brunt of DMK protest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 20, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Office-goers bear the brunt of DMK protest

Karthik Subramanian

Irregularities in Corporation by-elections alleged Traffic along Anna Salai came to a halt as protesters squatted on the road for more than an hour to protest against alleged poll irregularities

TRAFFIC STOPPERS: DMK cadres staging a road roko at Thousand Lights on Tuesday. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI: Protesting politicians, who staged road blockades on Tuesday following violence and allegations of irregularities in two Corporation ward byelections, created huge traffic jams in several key junctions of the city during the morning peak hour. This led to office-goers spending an agonisingly long time stuck on Anna Salai and other connecting roads. Most had to eventually walk to their offices.

The pavement along Anna Salai was the only place where any movement was possible, even if it meant that office-goers had to fight for space with motorcycles and bicycles. Some of them stood to lose half a day's wages if they reached their offices late.

Road blocked

Traffic ground to a halt after over 500 Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party men, led by Arcot N. Veerasamy and M.K. Stalin, squatted on the road and blocked traffic on Anna Salai around 9 a.m. For more than an hour, the protesters raised slogans against the police and the ruling party.

Mr. Stalin told the media that he was taking the election irregularities to the `people's court' as he had lost faith in the police. "Instead of listening to our complaints, they [police] only seem keen to protect the ruling party that is unleashing terror at the polling booths," he said. The DMK leaders said their party was boycotting the by-elections because of the large-scale irregularities.

Police were mere spectators as the crowd of protesters swelled for over an hour. The protesters approached Anna Salai through Avvai Shanmugam Salai and occupied a 50-metre stretch at the junction of the two roads. The resulting traffic jam held up traffic on Anna Salai, Mahatma Gandhi Road and Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai.

AIADMK protest

The All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam also blocked traffic along Whites Road. More than 75 cadre from the party's women's wing squatted on the road following the DMK protest on Anna Salai. They raised slogans against Mr. Stalin and other DMK leaders.

Some of those who were caught in the traffic were highly critical of the police. A motorist said the police could have turned the traffic around at Avvai Shanmugam Salai itself. "The police could have easily controlled the situation but they chose to simply watch," he said.

Eventually some of the MTC buses that were caught in the traffic jam were used to transport the protesters to Kannapar Thidal in North Chennai. The detainees were released in the evening.

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