The fishermen of Rameswaram organized a protest march condemning the arrests by the Sri Lankan Navy, the seizure of their boats and the imposition of maximum penalties by Sri Lankan courts on Tuesday. The protestors marched from Rameswaram Port to the Ramanathapuram District Collector's Office to express their grievances. The protest followed an emergency meeting held in Rameswaram, attended by many fishermen and their families.
According to ANI, the fishermen of Rameswaram marched from Rameswaram Port to Ramanathapuram District Collector's Office to protest against the arrests of fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy, confiscation of their boats, Sri Lankan court giving maximum punishment to the fishermen.
As part of their protest, all fishermen associations in the coastal district of Ramanathapuram declared their decision to cease fishing activities indefinitely in the Palk Bay region. Additionally, they announced plans to hoist black flags atop their residences as a symbolic gesture of dissent against the continuous arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy, as per a report on The Hindu.
In the past two months, over 69 fishermen have been arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for crossing the International Maritime border. On February 3 alone, 23 fishermen were arrested and two boats were seized for crossing the boundary line.
TN CM Stalin also wrote to PM Modi and External Affairs Minister seeking their intervention to help with the release of the arrested fishermen.
Meanwhile, the fishermen are also mulling on boycotting the annual festival at St Anthony's shrine in Katchatheevu, as per a report on Times of India.