Anti-Sterlite protests: Thoothkudi's SP, Collector transferred

Toothkudi (Tutocorin)'s Superintendent of Police, Thiru P Mahendran, and Collector, N Venkatesh, were on Wednesday evening transferred over the killing of 12 people in police firing during the anti-Sterlite protest in the city.

The residents of Thoothukudi have been demanding the closure of the Sterlite Copper Smelter for the past 100 days and had decided to take out a march before the Tuticorin District Collectorate on Tuesday. The protest took a violent turn after which the police resorted to firing to control the mob.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working president and Leader of Opposition MK Stalin on Wednesday questioned the police action that led to the 'mass murder of innocent people' who were protesting Vedanta's Sterlite Copper industrial plant in Thoothukudi (Tuticorin).

The Home Ministry has sought a report from the Tamil Nadu government over the situation in Thoothukudi.

Sterlite Copper, which currently operates a 400,000-tonne per annum unit in the city, maintains it has received necessary permits and has not violated any norms. Police said nearly 5,000 protesters gathered near a local church and insisted on taking a out a rally to the district collectorate after they were denied permission to march to the copper smelter plant.

Around 42 people injured in Tuesday's incident were admitted in a hospital at a hospital in Thoothukudi.