Title - 3,000 workers flood railway stations to get back home

CHENNAI: It was a flash mob of a different kind at Chennai Egmore station around 9pm, as thousands of labourers hailing from the northeast scampered to get back home after rumours spread that they could be attacked.As a sequel to the exodus of the northeast population from Bangalore on Wednesday, more than 3,000 people, mostly daily wage labourers, flooded the station to board the Chennai Egmore- Dibrugarh Weekly Express which left at 10.30pm. While some 300 of them managed to board the train, the rest of them moved to Chennai Central railway station, where two special trains from Bangalore would arrive at 2am and 4am.Some of them said they heard rumours that they could be attacked after the recent violence in Assam. The station witnessed dramatic scenes of people struggling to get into general compartments after the Railway Protection Force stopped them from occupying reserved compartments. Many were found hanging on the doors of general compartments as the train moved.While students from the northeast stay put in the city as their peer groups and teachers have reassured them, the working class people don't appear to have any such support. Rubin, a worker from Assam, said he is leaving as his family is scared of his safety following reports of violence and threats in southern parts of the country. "Nobody tells me I am safe," he said. After the police made announcements about the special trains, the labourers moved towards Chennai Central along the railway tracks.

Chennai city police commissioner J K Tripathy said there were no rumours about violence. "They must have got calls from their families to get back," Tripathy said. More than 300 railway police officers have been deployed at Chennai Egmore.