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Students, police clash at Melur

By Our Tamil Nadu Bureau

The police dragging away a student of the Meenakshi College in Madurai before arresting her on Tuesday. — Photo: K. Ganesan

CHENNAI Sept. 3. The Statewide protests by student unions and organisations, against the move to convert government colleges into constituents of universities, turned violent today.

At Melur, near Madurai, hundreds of students and riot police clashed after the protest turned violent, leaving several on both sides injured.

Student organisations said hundreds of students who boycotted classes Statewide were detained. Leaders of the Democratic Youth Federation of India and the Students Federation of India charged the police with using ``repressive measures''. The police, they said, woke up student leaders from their bed and detained them.

In the Dr.Ambedkar Government Arts College, Vyasarpadi here, about 70 students were picked up and later released. A student noted that while Monday's protest was against the merger of government colleges with universities, the arrest of the leaders was a ploy to divert the people's attention. ``We waited for four hours on Monday to meet the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, and handed over a memorandum urging her to drop the move. Today, we find that our friends, Senthil Kumar, Sankar and Udayakumar, were picked up at dead of night and arrested''.

At Melur, the agitation turned violent following a clash between students of the Government Arts College there and the police, which lasted 15 minutes. About 20 students and an equal number of policemen were injured. The police resorted to a lathicharge. A State transport bus, two police vans and some private vehicles were damaged.

At the Meenakshi Government Women's College in Madurai, the police intervened when the students tried to block traffic. About 400 students were taken into custody. The leaders complained that a woman student was ``pulled away in an uncivilised manner'' by the police.

The SFI and other organisations have been saying the merger of government institutions with universities would inevitably lead to a fee hike. The leaders want all detained fellow students released and the Government to initiate talks.

According to a senior academic administrator, the Government is considering a 10-15 per cent hike in government colleges, where the fee structure has remained static for over two decades. Only last week did teacher organisations withdraw their strike against the move.

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