Open fire on protesters in Tuticorin

There have been violent protests against Sterlite Copper’s smelter plant in Tuticorn. The protest took a more violent turn on Tuesday and Wednesday, when the state police were prompted to open fire on the protesters due to anti-social elements among the protesters, stated the report of the incident sent to the Centre.Prior to this turn of events, the state turned down the Centre’s offer to send paramilitary forces to the southern port town.The report also detailed the steps taken to restore normalcy.

 According to the report, the protesters were setting fire to vehicles  and made unlawful entry into the collector’s office.

Two senior IAS officers were sent to access and monitor the situation besides transferring of the collector and superintendent of police.

The open fire caused 13 deaths and 60 injured people on both Tuesday and Wednesday combined.

The law and order in Tuticorn is slowly returning to normalcy even after protesters set fire to a state government bus on Friday.