Anti-Sterlite protestors yesterday (12 April) stoned a bus carrying families of the company’s employees who were heading to the district Collectorate to submit a petition for re-opening the factory. Four people including a woman and two children suffered injuries as protestors hurled stones at the windscreen of a bus, The Hindu has reported.

The protestors intercepted the  buses near the Madaththur intersection on the Thoothukudi – Madurai Bypass Road and indulged in stone pelting. The protestors also snatched away the key from the driver of a accompanying van carrying the employees of Sterlite.

The protestors did not even spare the reporters and photographers covering the attack. They were subject to abuse and a car carrying a few reporters was also reportedly stoned.

The employees and their families were planning to submit a petition the Collector seeking the intervention of government to restart the now shut plant. Protests by various groups and a recent decision of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to not renew the licence of the plant have virtually rendered the factory non-operational.

Close to 5,000 people comprising the employees, their families and contract workers gathered at the factory premise yesterday and staged a demonstration appealing to the public not to believe the rumour mongering and propaganda campaign against the plant.

Also Read: Anti-Sterlite Protests: Who Is Behind The Tuticorin Turmoil?