Chennai: A bid by Chennai police to forcibly disperse a 1,000-strong group of anti-CAA protesters in Lallagunda in Washermenpet on Friday night backfired with the incident triggering protests by Islamic outfits across Tamil Nadu. On Saturday, the crowd at Washermenpet in north Chennai swelled to an estimated 3,000-plus, largely comprising Muslim women, and threatened to turn the place into the southern capital city’s own Shaheen Bagh.
Hundreds of members of various Islamic outfits including the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam and the Tamil Nadu Thoweed Jamath staged protests at key places in various districts across the length and breadth of the state and in neighbouring Puducherry too. The protests that began late on Friday night leading to traffic jams continued on Saturday but it remained peaceful and the public was not affected as the demonstrators chose not to block road on the second day.
It all began when a large group of Muslims gathered at Lallagunda to stage a protest demanding withdrawal of CAA and NRC on Friday evening. The same group had about a fortnight ago tried to stage indefinite protest at the venue declaring it to be “Chennai's Shaheen Bagh” but the police had managed to persuade them to widhdraw the stir. —Dravida Thambi
On Friday night, however, when police used mild force to discharge the crowd from the venue, they grew restive and two police officers including a woman Joint Commissioner of Police sustained injuries in the incident. The police too beat up some protestors whom they managed to pull out from the crowd.
As video clips of the police action spread on social media, it triggered sporadic protests across the State that continued on Saturday.
