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Protest against Sri Lankan President's visit

Special Correspondent

DPI volunteers arrested for burning Mahinda Rajapaksa's effigy

- Photo: T. Singaravelou

SENDING OUT A STRONG MESSAGE: Volunteers of the Puducherry unit of the DPI burning an effigy of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Puducherry on Saturday.

Puducherry: Volunteers of the Puducherry unit of the Dalit Panthers of India were arrested for burning an effigy of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the Puducherry-Mudaliarpet road on Saturday.

They were protesting against the visit of the President to India. Earlier, a batch of volunteers and leaders of the party protesting near the bus terminal at Orleanpet were taken into custody. . Other functionaries who courted arrest included P. Amudhavan, P. Ilavarasan, N. Munnavan and K. Ezhil (spokesperson). They also raised slogans condemning the `inhuman and atrocious' killing of Tamils in Sri Lanka by the armed forces.

The demonstrators also wanted the Union Territory Administration to withdraw cases filed against the DPI members for staging a dharna at the Chief Secretariat here on November 20. They had demanded proper and fair utilisation of funds earmarked by the Centre under the Special Component Plan (SCP) for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes in the annual and five-year plans of the Union Territory.

They alleged that the funds had been diverted from the SCP without justification.

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