CHENNAI: A breathless 16-year-old comes sprinting into 3rd Street, Nadukuppam and shouts, “I hear that the police are coming again!” The fishing hamlet instantly switched into a mode of frenzy as people on streets run back their home, shoving their children inside and bolting the doors.
The residents peep into the streets from the little windows or holes in their house. It takes a while before they breathe easy again, after being certain it was a false alarm.
Nadukuppam, a fishing hamlet on Lloyd’s Road, was a seemingly innocent victim to the clashes between police and the public. The residents who wanted to go fishing on Monday morning were denied access by the police.
People alleged that the police harassed even innocent people because of what people asserted was a personal vendetta. They found the chance when protesters from the Marina, who were being chased found refuge in the slum, claim aggrieved residents.
Abirami Raji*, an eight-year-old girl slowly steps out of her with a panic-stricken face after the false alarm. Tears roll down her cheeks. Her father was allegedly beaten up and hauled away by the police from the Light House metro station.
She joins the parade of people who hesitantly walk toward the fish market that was burned down on Monday. “The police walked off. They’re not coming to our kuppam,” announces an elderly man standing amid the market’s charred debris. He sends a wave of relief across the hamlet with that message.
“I was standing near the ration shop on 8th Street. I was wearing a black shirt. The shirt was torn like paper and I wasn’t treated any better,” says Srirajan, a resident. He points to swollen legs and shoulders and back that are marked by blood clots.
“I was beaten, dragged to the street’s end and dumped into a white van in which women police were eating. They beat me more, stamped me with their shoes and dumped me near the lighthouse.”
Nesam K, a 55-year old woman, lifts her saree to show a swollen leg on which she applied turmeric paste.
Among them is a 31-year-old woman who cries for a different reason. “Neither I, nor my husband was at home. We came back to find our whole house upside-down,” she says.
Her husband Kirubakaran walks to his house and carries the wooden door that’s completely come off its hinges. Inside their little house, the washing machine has toppled with clothes strewn all around the 8x8 living room, the rice pot had spilt on the floor, their table fan stood broken and almost every object was misplaced. “Our house was locked. Why would they break into it?” she asked.
While house-doors and windows were damaged causing severe loss, the major fire that destroyed their market and vehicles has caused immense loss to the fishing community.
Behind Maniamma* (81) is a cart filled with about 50 kgs of burnt onions. “The women police used powder, and the gents used diesel and tear-gas shell,” she says. “The woman police sprayed a white-coloured powder on the floor and the circle immediately caught fire.
They threw this powder through the market. That’s how my onion cart caught fire,” she wails. White phosphorus, on exposure to air, catches fire immediately. It only requires 30 degrees Centigrade to burn. It produces intense smoke which masks the origin of the fire.
Sivagami A* adds, “Nearly 200 fish vendors sell in this market. The women police used that powder to burn this and then took this fire and lit that auto. Then they used this fire to burn two more autos, one van and a car.” She adds that a cloth dipped in diesel was wrapped around a stick to set their vehicles on fire. Others agreed wholeheartedly.
Divya, who also used to sell fish in the burnt market pulls out a gunny bag from behind her and produces four objects. “One might tell me that we threw this stone, But did we use this broken lathi? Did we burn these tear-gas shells? Did we use these black rubber bullets?” she asks as she produces one object after another.
*Names changed