Chennai: Lashing out at the anti-liquor protests in Tamil Nadu, chief minister K. Palaniswami said it has become a fashion to gather children and elder people and protest against setting up of Tasmac shops.

He was reacting to the charges of Congress floor leader K.R. Ramasamy on police atrocities against anti-liquor protesters in Tiruppur, during the debate on demands for grants to the police department.

Palaniswami said the shop was set up half a kilometre from the residential area and people would not be affected by it. Some organisations deliberately started protests demanding closure of the shop. The local MLA who went to solve the issue was also made to sit among them. Problems erupted when police tried to bring out the MLA from the protesting crowd, he said, adding, the member had forgotten everything and pointing out an undesired incident (police assault on protesters) alone.

The Chief Minister also expressed regret for the incident.

“Problems arise only when protests are held deliberately. It has become a fashion to gather children and elders when a Tasmac shop is set up”, the Chief Minister said.

When the MLA was being taken away by the police, people verbally abused the police and attacked them, he said. They smashed the vehicles and threw stones on policemen, he added.

Strongly defending the police officer who assaulted a woman protester, the Chief Minister said there is no chargesheet against the police officer and so he was given promotion and added that the police are only doing their duty.

When Ramasamy said sand mining is being done indiscriminately, the Chief Minister said government took over the sand quarries only to stop illicit sand trade. He said the government is mining 7,000 loads of sand every day. Private players had laid path to carry the sand in vehicles but the paths had been closed by them after the government took over sand mining.

When people register for sand through online, consumers need not wait and the government would indicate the date and timing of sand supply to the consumer, he said and added that it would prevent sand theft fully. The government would also take measures to open new sand quarries, Palainiswami promised.