Actor Rajinikanth on Wednesday (11 April) condemned the attack on policemen by protestors outside the M A Chidambaram stadium in Chepauk on Tuesday (10 April) demanding the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board.
Actor Rajinikanth took to Twitter to express his displeasure over the violence. "The worst form of violence in a law and order situation is an attack on uniformed personnel on duty. This form of violence has to be tackled immediately as it poses a grave danger to our country. We need more stringent laws to punish the perpetrators of attack(s) on police personnel on duty," he wrote.
A number of fringe groups — including the Naam Tamizhar Party led by actor-director Seeman, and the newly formed Tamizh Panpattu Peravai, led by a number of Tamil film directors including veteran director P Bharathiraja and National Award winning directors Ameer and Vetrimaran — staged protests at Chepauk Stadium with the intention of getting the Indian Premiere League match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders cancelled.
The aim of the protestors was to draw the public's attention towards the issue of acute water shortage faced by the Tamil Nadu farmers. The protestors claimed that preventing the match from happening would also help in highlighting the fact that the Centre has been deceiving Tamil Nadu by stalling the formation of Cauvery Management Board as directed by the Supreme Court.
However, at a point the protests turned violent and protestors began attacking spectators and policemen.
The police had to resort to lathicharge to bring the situation under control, several people were arrested too. A case has been booked against director Seeman under various sections of the Indian penal code, including attempt to murder.
Although the cricket match was played without any untoward incident, the behaviour of the protestors has come in for widespread condemnation. Rajinikanth's reprove of the violence has evoked a mixed response from the public, with some supporting point while others criticising it.