170 held for demo against calendars carrying Rajapaksa photo

Coimbatore,Jan19 (PTI) More than 170 demonstratorsbelonging to various political parties were arrested today inUdumalpet in nearby Tirupur district for staging a protestagainst a Sainik school distributing calendars to studentsfeaturing photograph of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Police said the protesters were led by Periyar DravidaKazhakam (PDK) general secretary, K Ramakrishnan. They weredemanding that the school in Amaravathi, 20 km from Udumalpet,immediately withdraw the calander and also take back the onesalready issued to the students.

The demonstators alleged that Rajapaksa was responsible forthe death of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka in the war againstthe LTTE.

A large number of policemen had been deployed in the townfollowing PDK''s announcement about a week ago that it wouldlaunch an agitation if the school, run by the DefenseMinistry, did not stop issuing the controversial calendars.

The demonstration was organised by the PDK and politicalparties such as MDMK, PMK, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi andNaam Tamizhar Iyakkam and fringe outfits like Adi TamilarPeravai had extended support, police said.

Adequate security was also provided at the school,theyadded.