Nine persons were killed in police firing and hundreds of protesters and policemen injured in clashes during a rally demanding the closure of the Sterlite copper smelter plant at Thoothukudi in south Tamil nadu.
When the protesters started pelting stones, the police resorted to a lathi charge. When the demonstrators continued with the pelting of stones, the police resorted to firing of tear gas shells. Police said that when the situation went out of control, they opened fire.
In the melee, photo journalists were also injured. The Hindu news photographer N. Rajesh was roughed up by some rallyists. They snatched his camera and took away the memory card in it, threatening that the images in it would be erased. Later, they returned the memory card at the intervention of some persons.