Top DMK leaders, including party chief M. Karunanidhi’s son M.K. Stalin and daughter Kanimozhi, besides thousands of party workers on Wednesday courted arrest across Tamil Nadu as part of a ‘fill-the-jail’ protest against the AIADMK government which has allegedly “foisted” cases against its cadres.

Former Union Ministers Dayanidhi Maran and T.R. Baalu also courted arrest during the protest which Mr. Stalin claimed was an overwhelming success.

Ms. Kanimozhi, accused in the 2G case, lashed out at the “vindictive politics,” of the AIADMK government and alleged that her party leaders were being arrested without any proof. The Rajya Sabha MP had been earlier permitted by the Delhi special court to participate in the protest.

Mr. Karunanidhi had said over 50,000 DMK cadres would take part in the protest.

An emergency executive meeting of the DMK had recently decided to hold the protest condemning the arrest of senior leaders, many of them former Ministers, and “foisting” cases on them.

Several leaders, including Veerapandi S. Arumugam, now detained under the stringent Goondas Act, K.N. Nehru, K. Ponmudy, K.P.P. Samy, I. Periasamy and J. Anbazhagan have been arrested on charges of land grab and murder after the AIADMK came to power last year.