In a dramatic late-night raid, hundreds of Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) sanitation workers who have been protesting for 13 days against the privatisation of solid waste management in Zones 5 and 6 were forcibly removed by police from the Ripon Building compound near midnight on Wednesday.
The eviction, carried out hours after the Madras High Court gave the government permission to clear the protest site, witnessed almost 400 police personnel arriving at around 11:30 p.m. Within a few hours, workers, mostly women, were rounded up into approximately 40 buses and driven away to community halls all over the city for temporary detention. Police officials added that no official arrests were effected, but a number of workers, including women, fainted or got injured during the operation and were admitted to hospitals for treatment.
Strict action by Police
Two women rights activists, Nilavumozhi and Valarmathi, who were accompanying the workers, were also rounded up from Velachery at about 2:30 a.m. The police indicated they will be charged with “instigating” the protest, although no statement to that effect has been made.
For the sanitation workers the backbone of Chennai’s cleanliness, especially during the COVID-19 crisis the protest was not just about jobs but about dignity and livelihood. “They call it privatisation, but for us, it means job insecurity and exploitation,” one worker said before being taken away.
Edappadi K. Palaniswami criticised MK Stalin
The midnight raid evoked trenchant political responses. Leader of Opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami attacked Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s government for “crushing” the very workers who had been keeping the city safe through the pandemic. “Who are they? Anti-social elements? Naxalites? No. They are ordinary, poor people. Is it a crime to protest peacefully?” he posted on X.
G.K. Vasan, the leader of the Tamil Maanila Congress, criticized the government’s attitude, describing the demands of the sanitation workers as “genuine” and offering the state 48 hours to resolve the issue. “The people are in agony and disappointment. This anti-people governance will be short-lived,” he cautioned.
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