Chennai: Violence broke out in several parts of Tamil Nadu on Saturday after Chief Minister Jayalalitha was convicted in a graft case with angry AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) supporters indulging in stone pelting and arson and forcing closure of shops.
Tension prevailed as protesters burnt effigies of DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) president M. Karunanidhi, his sons M.K. Stalin and M.K. Alagiri and tore party posters in various places including in Chennai and Madurai.
While some protesters hurled stones at the residence of the Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy, DMK and AIADMK supporters clashed at Gopalapuram. A state-owned transport corporation bus was set on fire at Veppur village and some 20 buses damaged in stone-pelting in Cuddalore district, police said.
Stone throwing incidents were reported in Ambattur here, Edapadi in Salem district, Cuddalore and in Srirangam, Jayalalitha’s assembly constituency, police said. Shops and commercial establishments downed shutters in various parts of the state.
Protesters also damaged two-wheelers parked alongside roads in Madurai, they said. In Chennai, effigies of the DMK leaders were burnt in Poes Garden area. In Madurai, the AIADMK men blocked traffic and asked the shops and business houses to close their units.
Police said some shops were ransacked and stones pelted in Tiruchirapalli and Dindigul.
Security personnel in large numbers have been posted to maintain law and order, police said.
