VALPOI: Melauli villagers on Friday changed their protest site, as the police force was deployed at Guleli and Khotodem village panchayat junctions to stop non-residents from entering Shel Melauli.
Melauli villagers were not seen demonstrating against the proposed IIT project at the place where they have been holding the protest for the past four months, but moved into the forest and sat there for the entire day and did not allow anyone to enter the forest.
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The Melauli villagers claimed that some police informers, acting as supporters, have been visiting their protest site and getting information of their future plans and leaking these to the top officials. So they preferred to sit in protest in the forest.
The police detained around ten youth belonging to the Revolutionary Goans group. They were trying to enter Melauli to support the villagers in their protest.
According to villagers around thousands of them were present for the protest against the IIT in the forest on Friday. Many supporters came from Margao, Canacona and others parts of Goa and had entered the village early in the morning, villagers claimed.
Meanwhile, the anticipatory bail hearing of social activist Vishwesh Prabhu who was present in Melauli to support the villagers in their protest on the day of the lathi charge has been kept on Monday. The bail hearings took take place simultaneously along with the anticipatory bail of Diana Tavares.
