Anti-Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant Project (KKNPP) protestors took the sea route yet again, gathering 500 metres from the plant on fibre and mechanised boats, here on Monday.
During the course of the day-long agitation, People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) coordinator S P Udayakumar told Express that they would lay siege to the State Assembly in Chennai on October 29.
A consultative meeting would be held on October 14 to decide the next course of action, he added. The protestors reached the protest venue in their boats in the morning and demarcated the 500-metre boundary by floating buoys and stationing some boats. Udayakumar, accompanied by other protest leaders, including M Pushparayan, M P Jesuraj, Muhilan and Peter Milton, set out from the Idinthakarai shore around 9.30 am, trailed by several boats ferrying protestors.
Journalists were also allowed to accompany them in their boats. They reached the off-shore protest venue around 10 am, officially kicking off the day’s proceedings, with all of them joining in with slogans demanding that the KKNPP be scrapped, Udayakumar stayed there till around 4 pm. Meanwhile, two Coastal Security Group boats maintained vigil as a large number of boats reached the off-shore protest venue from all directions, including Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts.
Later, a Coast Guard ship was spotted in the vicinity. The boats from the Kanyakumari coast joined in after 11 am. Over 1,000 boats were seen at the venue, 500 metres from the rear side of KKNPP. Most of the protestors were men. Black flags were also hoisted on some boats. Police officials kept watch from the plant site even as the agitators relentlessly raised slogans. Around noon, the protest leaders held a discussion in one of the boats to chart out their future agitations.
Reiterating their demands, Udayakumar called for the scrapping of the KKNPP, release of all arrested protestors, withdrawal of police force from the coastal hamlets and dropping of false cases against the villagers.
“The Central and State governments should not ignore the people’s sentiments,” he said.
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