AgenciesChennai: State Police said here on Wednesday that the Tamil Nadu bundh called by opposition including PMK and MDMK has failed to derail the state.
"All essential transport services operated normally," a police official said. But he added that had been minor incidents of stone throwing here in Chennai and also in the towns of Cuddalore, Trichy, Madurai, Sivakasi, Ramanathapuram and Kanyakumari.
Most protestors in Chennai were either political activists or students and lawyers angered by Colombo's refusal to halt the military push against the LTTE, which is now holed up in a small area of Sri Lanka's north.
On the other hand, Tamil nationalist leader P Nedumaran said the strike was a complete success despite government pressures and police threats.
Police said more than 500 protestors were arrested in Tamil Nadu to foil the strike.
Residents here said that most shops and businesses were open and traffic appeared to be normal on Chennai's streets. A majority of the schools reported normal attendance.
Several political parties, including the PMK and MDMK, called the strike Wednesday -- coinciding with Sri Lanka's independence day -- to protest the military offensive against the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka which rights groups say has killed a large number of civilians.
The Tamil Nadu political parties, some of which espouse the separatist cause of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also want a truce in Sri Lanka.
The parties are particularly angry over the central Indian and the Tamil Nadu governments' refusal to press Colombo to go for a ceasefire.
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