Kerala marchers stopped

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The Kerala-Kudankulam march led by writers and social activists on Sunday to express solidarity with the anti-nuclear protests in Kudankulam was blocked by the police near the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border at Inchivila.

Kerala Anti-Nuclear Support Group, which organised the march, then tried to bus the activists to the protest site.

But this attempt was also derailed when the bus was stopped and asked to return by TN police before Kudankulam.

The march, undertaken by over 200 people, was inaugurated by poetess Sugatha Kumari at Parassala. Other noted personalities who took part in the march were: writer Sara Joseph, former diplomat M.K. Bhadrakumar, Latin Diocese Vicar-General Eugene Pereira, social activist B.R.P. Bhaskar, Gandhian P. Gopinathan and former naxallite K. Ajitha.

Palayam Imam Jalaluddin Mankada could not make it as he was caught in “some urgent matters”. The march was organised in response to the call for support from Kudankulam fisherfolk.

A small group then went to Nagercoil and attempted to reach Kudankulam in a private bus.

Udayakumar wants unconditional talks

Even as the anti-nuclear power agitators resorted to an innovative form of protest by burying themselves upto the waist in beach sand, anti-KKNPP struggle committee coordinator, Dr S.P. Udayakumar on Sunday said he was willing to hold unconditional talks with the chief minister Jayalalithaa according to one of his close associates, M Pushparayan.

As Udayakumar is incommunicado, his close associate in the anti-KKNPP struggle, M. Pushparayan conveyed the message to DC that they are ready to give up their fight if their immediate demand of stopping fuel-loading process is suspended.

Rayan also said that in such an event anti-KKNPP struggle committee is also ready for unconditional talks on the issue with the government.

“The government should do this as a compensation to the death of two of their comrades — Anthony John and Sagayam,’ added Pushparayan.

He however refused to comment on whether Udayakumar would appear before the Valliyoor magistrate court on Tuesday. ‘We are consulting this with our advocate friends,’ Pushparayan said.

Meanwhile, protesters staged a fresh form of protest against loading of fuel in Kudankulam plant, burying themselves on the beach.

Earlier in the day, around 250 people were arrested in Tuticorin after being stopped when they attempted to set out on a march to Idinthakarai to express solidarity with the anti-KNPP protesters.

The slogan-shouting protesters, who were held for violating police regulatory orders after being denied permission for the march, were later let off.

Actor-Director Seeman, heading the ‘Naam Tamizhar Iyakkam’, Periyar Dravida Kazhagam leader Kolathur Mani and workers of Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam were among those arrested, police said.

The protesters have further intensified their agitation after the Supreme Court refused to stop the loading of fuel in the nuclear reactor at Kudankulam plant.