The Thirumangalam Judicial Magistrate S. Venkatachalapathy today issued an arrest warrant for MDMK leader Vaiko, against whom police had registered a case under POTA, for allegedly making pro-LTTE remarks on June 29. Earlier in the day, the police invoked POTA for the first time in Tamil Nadu arresting eight MDMK men remanding them to 30 days in judicial custody. Those arrested, so far, are the eight against whom Non-Bailable Warrants were obtained from a court for their alleged pro-LTTE speeches at a meeting in Thirumangalam on June 29. Among these are former MP Ganesamurthy, former MLA P.S. Manian, Veera Elavarasan, Pulavar Sivandhi Appan, Bhoominathan and Madurai Ganesan. They would be produced before a magistrate at Thirumangalam. Vaiko, in a statement from Chicago, described the arrests as ‘‘repression’’ let loose against the Opposition and announced he would return to Chennai on July 11. Party presidium chairman L. Ganesan urged cadres to organise picketing programmes across the state on July 12 and court arrests.
