While it was near complete in many districts, the call for a strike to protest the indifference of government and to seek ceasefire in the battle-torn northern region of Lanka, had little support in some of the southern districts including Madurai.

The strike was near complete in the northern districts, where PMK and VCK, parties to the protest group SLTPM, have strong support base. Congress MLA Gnanadesikan's office in the region was attacked. The party MP Carvandan said he would call on the Chief Justice to apprise him of the situation.

Protestors pelted stones at 18 government buses across the state. The strike termed illegal by the state govt was partial in capital Chennai where hundreds of policemen were deployed to ensure normalcy.

The government has considered the strike as illegal citing rulings by the Supreme Court, though the apex court on Tuesday refused to stop the protest observing that strike was the right of a citizen in a democracy.

Thousand of small scale unite remained closed in Coimbatore and Tiruppur, the engineering and textile hub of Tamil Nadu.

CPI MLA Ulaganathan was arrested while attempting to stage rail roko at Tiruvarur district, the home district CM Karunanidhi.

On Tuesday, Karunanidhi stopped a potential controversy before it could erupt when he demanded sending back of eight personnel of the Sri Lankan Air Force from the IAF station at Tambaram, just outside Chennai city limits.

Eight Lankan Air Force personnel, who reached the IAF facility on Tuesday morning to complete their 36-week training, were asked to return by the Centre after Karunanidhi raised objections, said a government statement. It could have led to a considerable embarrassment for the state govt as the Air Force in Lanka is under fire from the parties in Tamil Nadu for allegedly dropping bombs in civilian area s in northern Lanka, killing and maiming many.