Nine people were killed while 30 were injured on Tuesday during a protest seeking the closure of Vedanta’s Sterlite Copper unit in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin.
The protest turned violent as people started pelting stones and toppling police vehicles after they were prevented from marching towards the plant. Police opened fire, killing a man.
According to sources present at the protest, several thousands had gathered in a show of solidarity against the plant, which had been fined Rs 100 crore for environmental rehabilitation by the Supreme Court in April 2013. The current phase of protests are against a planned 400 ktpa brownfield expansion of the factory.
The police said, as per the orders of the Madras High Court section 144 of CrPc has been invoked around Sterlite Unit.
Meanwhile, a state minister said though the government appreciated the sentiments of the protesters, police firing had become “unavoidable”.
“Entering the collector’s office and (perpetrating) violence is not acceptable.... (police) firing became an unavoidable,” fisheries minister D Jayakumar said.
-PTC News