Thousands of people gathered at the Marina beach in Chennai on Tuesday, holding banners and shouting slogans, in support of Jallikattu.
Videos that emerged on social media, showed the power of a people’s protest, as those who had gathered refused to budge, despite persuasion by the police.
Many protesters stayed through the night on Tuesday, even sleeping on the beach.
However, despite being such a large crowd, the people were peaceful, with no untoward incidents reported.
When the government allegedly shut the streetlights at the protest site, a video shows those who had gathered, using the light from their phones to continue with their demands.
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Many put messages on social media asking for more crowds to come, for people to bring food, water and medicines.
Popular RJ Balaji reached the Marina Beach in the wee hours of Wednesday morning and addressed the protestors. Balaji’s speech highlighted something crucial about these protests, that, this was a large gathering of non-violent young people with a single goal.
“You will not see more peacfeul protest than this. Nobody was beaten up, no buses were attacked, nobody was drunk and created a ruckus. People here are clear about what they want. I have come here to say only one thing, Jallikattu is part of our culture and we need it back,” he said.
@RJ_Balaji is now #MarinaBeach with protestors to support #JalliKattu pic.twitter.com/Rv1q9E9uN9
— Chennaites (@ChennaitesFb) January 17, 2017
The protesters also demanded a ban on animal rights organisation People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Another video captures how peaceful the crowd was.
DMK working president MK Stalin, party MLA J Anbazhagan, Filmmaker T Rajendran and actor Mayilsamy had also joined the protest earlier in the day.
Source: The News Minute