BySandeep Mishra & Ashis Senapati , TNN | Mar 8, 2013,

A few hundred agitated villagers including women and children marched towards the police camps demanding its removal. The police attempted to disperse them leading to a clash which left 20 villagers injured.Collector (Jagatsinghpur) S K Mallick said leaders of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) used women as shields against the police. “Police only dispersed the agitated villagers by using batons when they marched towards the police camps,” SP (Jagatsinghpur) Satyabrata Bhoi said.

“The police attack is condemnable. It speaks volumes about the state government’s attitude towards democratic movements,” PPSS president Abhay Sahoo said.

What left cops stunned was a handful of women baring part of their torsos in protest. It is the first time it has happened here

“The women were protesting against deployment of police in their village. They had no option as the government has turned a deaf ear towards them,” Sahoo said.

PPSS has been spearheading the anti-Posco movement. It happened in Gobindapur where the government has been acquiring land by dismantling betel vines and felling trees. It acquired 250 acre in the first week of February and a few more acre during the past few days. “We have temporarily stopped dismantling betel vines,” Mallick said. The government says it has acquired around 2000 acre and needs another 700 acre so that Posco could begin its first phase work.

On Wednesday, Sahoo had said women and children as part of ‘democratic resistance’ would stage nude protest if the administration does not immediately stop land takeover. On Thursday, he repeated this, saying: “The government did not acquire land acquisition. Whenever they restart the process, we will go to any extreme. Our protest will be non-violent.”