Several persons including P. Nedumaran and Vaiko have been arrested by the Chennai Police while they were protesting near the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission in Chennai, confirmed the Deputy High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in India V. Krishnamurthi.
They were staging the protest claiming that India should close down the Sri Lankan Mission as the Rajapaksa administration was blocking the UN panel appointed by the Secretary General and also that the island’s navy was harassing Indian fisherman.
Among those arrested were Marumalar Dravida Munnetra Kalaham (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko alias V. Gopalaswamy, Indian Communist Party State Secretary T. Pandian, World Tamil Movement (WTM) Convenor P. Nedumaran, Periyar Dravida Kalaham general secretary V. Rajendran and Puthiya Paarvai editor M. Nadarasan, according to media reports.
More than 300 protestors shouted slogans against the Sri Lankan and Indian and the Tamil Nadu state governments prior to being taken into custody.
Chennai police arrested them when they attempted to march in procession on the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission office from Nagashwara Rao Park in Mailapur.
