Thousands block Bengaluru-Chennai highway as nod denied for jallikattu

BENGALURU: A massive traffic jam was witnessed on the Bengaluru-Chennai highway on Thursday after thousands of people blocked the road to protest against denial of permission for a jallikattu event. A tense atmosphere prevailed for some time as the protesters resorted stone-pelting.

The villagers threw stones at the police and placed boulders on the road.

Villagers of Koppachandram in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu had made all preparations for the event and thousands of people from surrounding villages had descended there along with hundreds of cattle.

Traffic was held up for several kilometres.

But just before the event was to start, the police tried to stop the event stating that permission had not been granted for the event.

Police resorted to lathicharge, used water cannons and teargas shells.

Hundreds of angry villagers then blocked the highway and placed huge boulders to block the movement of vehicles. They even threw stones at the police. Some even climbed atop vehicles and created trouble. Due to this, traffic was blocked for several kilometres on the highway.

Several vehicles were also damaged.

As tensions grew, the police resorted to lathicharge, firing teargas shells and using water cannons to disperse the crowd. It was only much later that the highway was cleared for movement of vehicles.