Police today resorted to a cane charge to disperse CPI workers, majority of them belonging to the National Federation of Indian Women, who were staging a protest demanding imposition of prohibition.
The workers were taking a pall with an effigy for "mourning the death of liquor" at Pappampatti Junction on the outskirts, seeking prohibition in Tamil Nadu when police stopped them.
Some 90 protesters, including 68 women, resisted police attempts to snatch the effigy and police made a cane charge to disperse them, police said.
In the melee, one Krishnamurthy, suffered chest pain and workers got him admitted to a nearby private hospital.
Another group of 75 workers, staged a similar protest at Kannampalayam on Pappanpatti Road, seeking total prohibition, they said.
All the workers involved in both the protests were arrested, police said.
Meanwhile, district CPI secretary, K M Selvaraj, condemned police action on "peaceful agitators" and also "for not helping to take the injured to the hospital.
