Rameswaram fishermen withdraw protest

Fishermen here today withdrew their proposed action of taking out a flotilla with white flags to Sri Lanka to press for the release of 49 of their colleagues after talks with district officials.
Ramanathapuram District Collector K Nanthakumar held talks with leaders of various fishermen organisations which have decided to take out the flotilla and "surrender" to Sri Lankan authorities as a mark of protest on June 20 if their arrested colleagues were not released by then.
The collector assured them that the fishermen, arrested in three batches, would be released tomorrow, on June 20 and June 22 respectively when they would be produced before a court in Sri Lanka on expiry of their remand period.

While 49 fishermen were arrested in two batches on June 5 and June 6, eight had been taken into custody on June 15 for allegedly entering Sri Lankan waters.
They were produced before a court in Sri Lanka which has remanded them to judicial custody.