THE MAIN REPORT
Part I
Introduction
On May 22, 2018, around noon, media reports started coming in from Thoothukudi (also referred to as Tuticorin), about police firings on those who had gathered at the Thoothukudi District Collectorate to mark the 100th day of peaceful demonstrations against the proposed expansion of Vedanta’s Sterlite Copper. Over the previous 99 days people across Thoothukudi, including residents of villages situated close to the plant, had staged protests against expansion and had submitted petitions on the issue to the DC, Mr N. Venkatesh, IAS. In the absence of any response from the district administration, they had planned to march towards the Collectorate on the 100th day. According to the Government of Tamil Nadu, by the evening of May 22, eleven people were killed in police firings. The government claimed that the firings were in response to the marchers resorting to violence. Those who were associated with the demonstrations of May 22, comprising local residents, political parties and activists, denied this allegation. The evidence gathered from eye-witness accounts, images and videos caught on cameras and contemporaneous reports in both national media and social media about the manner in which the police were said to have attacked the demonstrators and resorted to firing live ammunition into the crowds, raise several disturbing questions about the modus operandi of the district administration and police, prior to May 22, on May 22 and in the days that followed. The internet shutdown until May 25 and the imposition of Section 144 until May 27, were also questionable decisions since they restricted the gathering and flow of information from Thoothukudi. To date, the administration has not made clear the decision-making process behind the order to fire into the crowds, and there is still no clarity on the authority, person/persons responsible for arriving at that fatal decision... (Read Full Report)