Following Tuesday’s violence which led to police firing during the anti-Sterlite agitation in Thoothukudi, officials of the Revenue department and the police came up with different versions of what led to the deterioration of the law and order situation on the ground. While Revenue officials felt the Intelligence Wing of the police had failed to foresee a protest of such magnitude, the police alleged that the involvement of members of a few “radical groups” in the agitation motivated the protesters to indulge in violence.
The police claimed that the “infiltration” of the anti-Sterlite agitation by members of a few “revolutionary groups” added a violent dimension to the stir. Some residents of A. Kumareddiyarpuram, Kazhuthaikoottam alias Silverpuram, Pandaarampatti, Madathur and S. Veerapandiapuram, situated near the Sterlite copper unit, where people have been holding agitations for the past several weeks, acknowledged that the presence of a few “outsiders” might have undermined the “peaceful agitation.”