Chennai, December 07: On the 17th anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition, more than 1,500 activists from Muslim organisations were arrested when they held protests in different parts of the city on Sunday.
Over 500 activists, including 180 women, of the Tamil Nadu unit of Indian Tauheed Jamaat gathered near a five star hotel in Nungambakkam at 10.50 am and tried to march towards Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s house on Haddows Road.
The protesters, led by State unit secretary S M Pakkar, carried placards and raised slogans demanding the implementation of the Justice Liberhan Commission report on the Babri Masjid demolition.
They said the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the senior BJP leaders, L K Advani and Uma Bharti (who has since quit the party), who have been indicted by the report, must be arrested.
The agitators also demanded the reconstruction of the mosque at the disputed site in Ayodhya by next year.
The Jamaat activists were arrested about 15 minutes later, when they tried to march towards Chidambaram’s house to press their demands, and taken to the Corporation Boys’ High School in the area. A heavy security cordon was placed around Chidambaram’s house.
At the Anna Salai, nearly 1,000 activists, including 200 women, of the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam held a demonstration at Anna Statue around 11.30 am.
The party activists had been given permission to stage a protest opposite the government guesthouse at Chepauk, but they wanted a more public place, a police official said. So, they were allowed to gather at Anna Statue, they were denied permission to take out a procession from there.
Later in the evening all the arrested were released.
–Agencies