Protesting the closure of a state-run liquor shop in Anaikatty village of this district near Tamil Nadu-Kerala border, following agitations by tribal women of the neighbouring state, nearly 200 people today blocked the road and demanded its reopening.
The protesters were arrested when they squatted on a road demanding immediate reopening of the shop run by TASMAC, sole retailer of Indian Made Foreign Liquor in Tamil Nadu, police said.
Some shops in the area also stayed closed in support of the protesters, they said.
The TASMAC outlet was closed last night following orders from the district administration, apparently bowing to pressure by agitating tribal women of Kerala's Attapady village, which is about one km from the shop.
Around 500 tribal women of Attapady had staged agitations in various forms, including hunger strike, since February demanding closure of the shop in Anaikatty.
They claimed that the male members of their family were spending their "hard earned" money on liquor at the TASMAC outlet just across the border. Liquor is banned in Kerala.
In the counter-protest, the villagers of Anaikatty said people from Tamil Nadu go to Attapady and buy lottery tickets, which also drained their "hard earned" money.
Lottery tickets are banned in Tamil Nadu while the same is allowed in Kerala.
Without bowing to pressure from Kerala, the Tamil Nadu government should reopen the shop and also seek a ban of lottery tickets in the border area, the protesters said.
