Eight students of Loyola College, who were on an indefinite hunger strike over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue for the past four days, called off their fast even as solidarity poured in from the student community across the State on Monday evening. Earlier, the city police forcibly shifted the eight students to a hospital early in the morning. As many as 119 of their supporters were also detained from the venue.
Around midnight, two assistant chief medical officers visited the venue and conducted a medical checkup on the eight fasting students — Dileepan (18), Britto (20), Anthony George (20), Ramesh alias Paarvai Dasan (20), Paul Kenneth (20), Manikandan (19), Shanmugapriyan (19) and Leo Stalin (20). According to police, the doctors issued a certificate that the protesting students needed medical management, as the water content in their body was low. Soon, a posse of police arrived and forced themselves past the locked gate at the venue, a private property located on the 100 Feet Road in Koyambedu, around 2 am. They attempted to forcibly take the students to hospital when supporters surrounded the fasting students and a heated argument ensued. But it was not long before the eight students were carried out in stretchers and shifted to Government Royapettah Hospital in six ambulances. In the turn of events, a policeman sustained injuries.
Police arrested 119 supporters at the venue, including students and members of fringe parties, who reportedly surrounded the students to prevent them from being shifted. The arrested persons were kept in a Corporation community hall in Jai Nagar, Arumbakkam, and were released later around 9.30 am. The supporters were dropped back at the venue.
Meanwhile, another argument broke out between some supporters, who allegedly returned after they were released from the community hall, and the police when a woman lawyer alleged harassment by the cops. Senior police officials intervened and sorted out the issue.
Simultaneously during the day, protests erupted in several other colleges in the city, including Dr Ambedkar Law University, who blocked traffic on Greenways Road for about two hours holding placards seeking a stop to the genocide in Sri Lanka and demanding release of the fasting students. Students of Kumararani Meena Muthiah College of Arts and Science also staged a protest in Adyar wearing black badges.
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