When a student in Chennai, Muthukumar, immolated himself over the Lankan Tamils issue, 30,000 students formed part of his extremely tense funeral procession. This caused the DMK government to look for strict action to curb student unrest in the state. The government indefinitely shut colleges and hostels in the middle of the exam season leaving the students in lurch. Though they were demanding a ceasefire, the students will now have to pay a heavy price for their protests.