Families of fishermen and local people protested on Sunday at Jegathapattinam in Tamil Nadu's Pudukottai district over the Sri Lankan Navy arresting 14 fishermen and seizing their mechanised boats.
The incident took place on Wednesday night when the fishermen had gone to sea for fishing in two mechanized boats.
15 fishermen from the Rameshwaram district, who were released from Sri Lankan prison, were welcomed by BJP on their arrival in Tamil Nadu's Chennai on Thursday.
Four fishermen from Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for trespassing into their waters. The arrest was made at 4.30 a.m. on Sunday.
According to Rameswram fishermen, around 2,500 people had gone fishing on Saturday evening and while they were fishing at Dhanushkodi near Talaimannar, the Sri Lankan Navy reached the spot and chased them away.
The Supreme Court was informed by the Centre on Friday that 68 Indian fishermen, caught by Sri Lankan Navy in December 2021, have been released and repatriated to the country.
The fishermen from Tamil Nadu who left from Thoothukudi were arrested on Monday while they were engaged in cross-border fishing in Mullaitivu waters of Sri Lanka.
The fishermen were arrested on July 20 for crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) into Sri Lankan waters.
The trawler, reportedly acting as a multi-day fishing trawler, was transporting drug consignments, with a street value of around Rs 3.1 billion, to other boats.
The former Union minister said that when fishermen went to sea in 556 boats on Saturday, the Sri Lankan navy conducted heavy stone-pelting on them damaging the boats and the fishing nets causing huge liabilities to the already deprived fishermen.
