Life normal in Tamil Nadu despite strike on Sri Lankan issue

More than 500 protestors were arrested in Tamil Nadu Wednesday to foil an opposition-sponsored strike against civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.

Tamil Nadu authorities said that life was normal across the state though Puducherry was somewhat affected. Residents said that most shops and businesses were open and traffic appeared to be normal on Chennai's streets. A majority of the schools reported normal attendance.

"We have arrested 500 anti-social elements (all over the state)," Director General of Police K.P. Jain twas reported to have told IANS. Several political parties, including the PMK and MDMK, called the strike Wednesday - coinciding with Sri Lanka's independence day. The Tamil Nadu political parties, some of which espouse the separatist cause of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also want a truce in Sri Lanka.

The parties are particularly angry over the central Indian and the Tamil Nadu governments' refusal to press Colombo to go for a ceasefire. Police officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said the strike had failed to derail Tamil Nadu. "All essential transport services operated normally," a police official said.

Most protestors in Chennai were either political activists or students and lawyers angered by Colombo's refusal to halt the military push against the LTTE, which is now holed up in a small area of Sri Lanka's north.

Chennai,Wednesday