PUDUCHERRY: For the second day on Friday, violence and protests continued over the suicide of two Ashram inmates and their mother.
Tension prevailed when a few residents of Kurussukuppam surrounded the four-storied Ambabhikshu apartment where the five sisters lived before they were evicted and demanded that all lands leased out by the government to the Ashram be retrieved and given to landless people.
The demonstration turned violent when some protesters pelted stones at the building damaging window panes. The police swung into action and chased them to the nearby S V Patel Salai, where they were taken into custody.
A few minutes later, members of Naam Thamilar Katchi staged a demonstration in front of the Ashram demanding an enquiry into the suicide. They raised slogans blaming the government for failing to provide protection to the five women who were evicted from the Ashram.
In another incident, an eatery run by an Ashram devotee near the Romain Rolland Library was vandalised on Friday noon. In all, police took 78 persons into custody in various cases.