Student protests over Sri Lankan Tamils
Colleges were shut after students throughout Tamil Nadu protested over alleged war crimes against Sri Lankan Tamils.
On 11 March 2013 eight Loyola College students in Chennai went on hunger strike, and police arrested them, which set the protests in motion. Students all over Tamil Nadu then marched, with doctors, IT workers and film figures joining them, to press for action on alleged war crimes committed in the last stage of the Sri Lankan civil war. Police detained hundreds of students at demonstrations in front of Raj Bhavan in Chennai. Hundreds of Anna University-affiliated engineering colleges, as well as many arts and science colleges, were closed indefinitely on the state government's orders. That same month, the DMK quit the ruling alliance at the Centre over the matter.
