Tirunelveli: More than 20 persons were injured when police used batons to disperse members of a Muslim outfit who tried to enter a railway station here on Friday night and damaged a dozen buses protesting against a controversial film deemed offensive to Islam.
The activists of Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) clashed with police after permission was denied to them for conducting picketing in the railway station, police said.
When police told them that they could organise a "symbolic protest" outside the station and disperse after that, the activists tried to enter the station in a large number "forcibly" following which police lathicharged them, police said.
Five policemen were also injured in the melee, police said.
The MMK activists later organised a road blockade near Melapalayam in the city and damaged more than a dozen buses, police said.
A couple of Muslim organisations had last week held protests in Chennai targeting the US Consulate there over the film, following which the diplomatic office closed down its visa section for two days from September 17.
PTI
