People protest to Lift ban on jallikattu and impose ban on PETA, at Kamarajar Salai, Marina Beach in Chennai on Saturday. (PTI Photo) People protest to Lift ban on jallikattu and impose ban on PETA, at Kamarajar Salai, Marina Beach in Chennai on Saturday. (PTI Photo)

Two days after an early morning police drive to evict thousands of peaceful Jallikattu protesters had led to massive violence in Chennai, hundreds of residents living in city slums as well as fishermen hamlets continue to live under the threat of riot police, with many more men and women allegedly being threatened and picked up from various places, till last night.

Protesters said the police action, early Monday morning, was mysterious, as the police intelligence was informed of their decision to call off the protest on January 23, soon after the passing of the Jallikattu bill in the Tamil Nadu assembly.

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The police action, that began at around 7 am, had more than 6,000 police personnel including men and women from the city police as well as special battalions. As the efforts to evacuate the police had begun, and partially failed immediately, as many protesters that escaped from the police ran towards the waters to form a human chain threatening suicide, protest marches erupted across the city.

“Two major flaws in our action was that we did not secure the shore line before beginning the operation from the beach road. Also, maximum police strength mobilised in Marina had helped many miscreants to unleash violence in other parts of the city. While a section of protesters who were peaceful and mostly crying as we evacuated them had moved out of the beach area, it was men brought by other elements who launched the attack on police and public property by around noon,” said a senior intelligence officer, a version verified by multiple intelligence and police sources.

However, what finally faced the wrath of riot police were a few Dalit settlement colonies and fishermen hamlets near Marina beach and in the city.

Chennai: Youngstres and Students during the protest to Lift ban on jallikattu and impose ban on PETA, at Marina Beach in Chennai on Sunday. PTI Photo by R Senthil Kumar Chennai: Youngstres and Students during the protest to Lift ban on jallikattu and impose ban on PETA, at Marina Beach in Chennai on Sunday. PTI Photo by R Senthil Kumar

Even after two days of police action, residents who faced the police excesses in many hamlets and colonies in Chennai including Nadukuppam, a fishing settlement near the Queen Mary’s College on the beach road, Rutharpuram, a Dalit settlement tucked behind the City Centre mall and the DGP Office, Venkatarangam Pillai street, Canal Street and Munuswamy Nagar near Triplicane, as well as Hanumanthapuram and Rotary Nagar continue to live under the wrath of police with many more men and women being threatened or picked up by the police.

Residents of Nadukuppam said they faced the wrath of police for helping and being part of the weeklong peaceful protest demanding the lift of the ban on Jallikattu. A fisherwoman who was beaten up by the police said they had been helping protesters use toilets and giving them shelters as their colony was close to the protest venue. “If the police wanted to catch the violent mob, why did they pull out women from bathrooms and beat them up?” she asked. In her locality, an entire fishmarket was set on fire by police personnel and fish and facilities worth several lakhs were destroyed.

Unlike many such police excesses in the past, what made it different this time was the anecdotes from residents from many colonies who said that it was the women police personnel who led the attack and violence. Video footage of women police personnel setting fire to vehicles, which was, however, denied by city Police Commissioner S George as morphed videos, have surfaced.

While in Nadukuppam alone, police personnel ransacked the entire area and damaged furnitures, television sets in several houses and set fire on an entire fish market besides damaging and setting fire to motorbikes and a car in the area.

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A fact-finding report prepared by an independent team of human rights activists by visiting various colonies and fishermen hamlets on Tuesday alleged that the police were behind the torching. “… alleged to have thrown a flammable substance in powder form, (Phosphorous) on the parked vehicles,” before they were torched. “They used the lathi to break the windshield of a car and poured the powder inside to burn it,” a resident said.

When police used the force to disperse protesters from the beach, many of them ran to this area seeking shelter. The fact-finding team report said many injured students from Marina beach ran and sought protection, water and first-aid at Nadukuppam, for the injuries sustained.

Rutharpuram, in Myampore, was another locality near the beach where police allegedly burnt several vehicles. While residents said it was a sit-in protest near their settlement on Monday morning, raising slogans such as ‘don’t beat our children,’ had allegedly provoked police. The fact finding report said around six autos, eight bikes, two cycles and one sofa set were burnt by police here, mostly led by women police personnel. The police attack following abuses asking why did they send their children too for the protest. “They behaved like stray dogs, they pelted stones and set everything on fire. We were shocked to see the behaviour and abuse from women officers,” a resident said.

Meanwhile, the fact finding team, headed by leading writer and human rights activist A Marx, and eight other members, demanded a judicial probe on the police excesses. It demanded that the DGP TK Rajendran, Chennai Police Commissioner George and other senior police officials must be put on compulsory wait till the judicial enquiry into the police excesses at marina is completed. “Similarly, all the policemen and women police who indulged in arson and violence must be suspended until the judicial enquiry is completed,” the report said, demanding an interim compensation of a minimum of Rs 25,000 should be given to all the women fish vendors of Nadukuppam through the government through the Fisheries Department.

Police denied allegations of police excesses

A not-so-active social media page of Chennai City Police Commissioner has now been activated with several posts with photos and videos of mob violence to explain the police version. Posts on the Facebook page, a chilling video first emerged on social media, shows visuals of a police van being attacked by a mob on the Nair bridge near Egmore, on Monday. A badly injured driver was seen emerging from the vehicle pleading for help while a youth was kept on hitting him with a wood log.

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Suggesting the videos of police indulging in violence could be morphed or shot elsewhere, another post by the Chennai City Police suggested that they may be morphed too. “Police force is a disciplined force trained to serve the public and work for their welfare through the maintenance of law and order. Any deviant behaviour by anyone in this regard will not be tolerated by the members of the force as it creates disrepute for the entire organisation. Therefore, if anyone is found indulging in acts of misbehaviour, he or she will be dealt with firmly through exemplary punishment,” said the official post.

While various political parties and youth leaders who led the protests have started demanding George’s suspension, a top source in the police wing who was in the know of Monday’s crack down, said there were many reasons that led to the massive violence.

“Protestors were always peaceful and we did not even use our strength to handle them. Over 300 of them had been handling even the traffic and crowd management efficiently. Even when the commissioner George had taken a walk along the beach road during the protest, it was protesters who secured him a safe path forming a human chain. But for the police, it was necessary to evict them before they celebrate their victory with the assembly passing the bill. Otherwise it would have sent a wrong message to everyone, public should think twice before they come and gather again,” he said. “After we failed in our calculations on the first day and the crowd was beyond the control by that evening, few celebrity leaders who addressed the crowd had helped to trigger a confusion among them. There was hardly 10,000 people on Marina on Monday morning after a section had appealed them to call of the protest or they themselves decided to stay away. We deployed 6,000-7,000 personnel for the morning evacuation. Moreover, we had no time to wait as we were already running late to prepare for the Republic Day celebrations to be held on Marina beach,” he said.

On police personnel indulging in atrocities and burning vehicles, he said: “Footages shows personnel from the special forces. Reports of attack on Ice House police station and injuries of their colleagues must have provoked them. Women personnel were used for such an action of the first time. Maybe for many of them, it was also a chance to prove their strength as they are largely a neglected force in the police or the special battalions,” he said. He claimed ignorance on using phosphorus powders in the attack. “It was very important to show the public how we would respond to such agitations keeping the state and rulers in hostility, however peaceful it may be,” he said.

Demand for action on police, removal of City Police Commissioner

More and more footages of police atrocities continue to spread on social media by local residents. A tweet by actor Kamal Hassan tagging the video of police torching vehicles has turned out to be a repository of dozens of such videos from several followers.

The the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the government to reply on the “unprovoked police excesses.”

However, the Madras high court on Tuesday refused to permit urgent hearing of cases relating to police violence, inviting criticism among many activists. Activist Nityanand Jayaraman, who works for the welfare and rights of city’s slum dwellers, stated on Monday: “Madras HC has blood on its hands Refused to intervene. Total trust deficit.”

He took to Facebook after meeting many who were attacked, saying: “… there is a difference between the violence of the hooligans and the violence of the police. The former are hooligans — by definition people with scant or no respect of the law. The latter are law enforcers. When the law enforcers — who are given powers and a certain impunity by citizens and law — behave like hooligans, attack residents, enter into homes, burn vehicles and set fire to fish markets, it gives cause for worry. There are good officers in the police. It is these people whose hands have to be strengthened. Hooliganism in or out of uniform should be rooted out.”

DMK Opposition leader MK Stalin demanded the transfer of city police commissioner George, a veteran law and order officer credited for the controversial arrest and manhandling of former chief minister M Karunanidhi, Stalin’s father, from his residence in 2001. George was the officer who was blamed for the notorious crack down of Kudankulam protestors too, in 2012.

Leading anti-corruption activist and retired bureaucrat MG Devasahayam said he sent urgent messages to state minister K Pandiarajan and former DGP and the current AIADMK MLA R Nataraj to intervene and advise police to cease and desist immediately. Amidst many more reports of police picking up people from city slums to spread the scare, his message said: “I am receiving disturbing reports of police repression and high handedness at several places, especially Chennai and Madurai. Is this the way to celebrate Republic Day? Is India a people’s republic or police republic?”

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