Around 250 workers of a pro-Eelam Tamil outfit on Sunday protested against the reported training of Sri Lankan armed forces personnel at an Army campus in India, leading to a police lathicharge and arrest of 120 of them.

Police had kept a strict vigil and formed a two-tier security at a bridge, three kms from the Madras Regimental Centre (MRC) at nearby Wellington to prevent the pro-Eelam outfits, holding a series of protests against the training of Lankan personnel.

However, the workers of Naam Tamizhar Katchi of film director Seeman managed to enter the MRC campus from another side, to the surprise of officials, police said.

As the activists started raising slogans against Congress and Sri Lankan government and rushed towards the campus, housing the Defence Service Staff college, some policemen stationed inside it, made a lathicharge and managed to stop them about 100 metres ahead of the training institution and disperse them.

On hearing about the incident, police on duty at the bridge rushed to the spot and arrested 120 workers, including three women, police said.

The activists threatened to intensify their agitation and launch an indefinite fast, if the Sri Lankan personnel were not sent back.

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has already conveyed her government’s opposition to the Centre over the training of the Lankan personnel.

MDMK led by Vaiko has announced siege protest of the college on June 25, holding that training the Lankan defence personnel hurt the sentiments of Tamils. (PTI)