Coimbatore: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) workers staged a protest on Sunday insisting stern action against culprits who desecrated the statue of social reformer Periyar E.V. Ramasamy at Vellalore in Coimbatore.
On Sunday morning, the statue placed in front of Periyar's Study Centre was found garlanded with sandals and the statue's head was smeared with saffron-coloured powder. The people of the area who saw this loathsome incident informed the administrators of the Study Centre and DMK workers who rushed to the spot.
Following this, the administrators informed the Podanur police station and a team of police personnel reached the spot. The Police and DMK workers inspected the statue and removed the sandals and cleaned the mess over the statue.
The police said, "We are checking out the CCTV footage of the area. Further examination of visuals are going on to check whether anyone was in the area at night."
The DMK workers later called off their protest after the police assured them of stringent action against the culprits.