VISAKHAPATNAM: In a move aimed at ending continuing protests on the relief and rehabilitation of fishermen affected by Gangavaram port, the police on Friday arrested protestors at the port site, leaders of the Left parties and the aikya vedika, spearheading the agitation and villagers.

Those arrested for violation of prohibitory orders included CPI(M) district secretary Ch. Narsinga Rao, former MLA and CPI leader Manam Anjaneyulu and CPI district secretary J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy and aikya vedika leaders -- M. Guru Murthy and Ch. Rajeswara Rao. The arrests came close on the heels of inconclusive talks to end the Gangavraram impasse by Commercial Taxes Minister Konathala Ramakrishna till late Thursday night. Police put the number of those arrested around 280. Around 5 a.m., police swooped on the port site at Gangavaram and arrested some 60 protestors sleeping there. The tents pitched at the site were removed. It took some time for the fishermen of Gangavaram to recover from the arrest of their leaders. Even as they chalked out their next action, they stopped buses and autos coming from nearby Dibbapalem and made passengers alight. The number of protestors swelled as they went through the streets mobilising villagers and emerged on the road towards the Gangavaram port.

As the protestors marched towards the port site, tension mounted. A heavy contingent of policemen stopped them at the road leading to the port.

Around 300 police personnel, led by an ACP and a DSP and three circle inspectors, were deployed around the village. In a change of tactics and in view of the experiences in March where attacks on officials and firing took place, police positioned themselves at the entry to the port site. Turning down the demand to allow them to go to the port site, they bundled the protestors, including women, into waiting vans. The fishermen courted arrest raising slogans against the government and the Commercial Taxes Minister. The arrested included TDP's Kona Tata Rao who led them.

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