Kerala High Court on Friday warned fisherfolk protesting at the under-construction Vizhinjam seaport of tough measures if they didn’t remove obstacles and allow construction activities to resume.

The single bench of Justice Anu Sivaraman ordered the fisherfolk, led by the Latin Archdiocese of Trivandrum, to ensure that their protest does not become a law and order issue.

The order came a day after fisherfolk breached from sea and land the port being built by the Adanis in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala, to mark the 100th day of their protest against the facility that they say is a threat to the ecology and their livelihood. They flung police barricades into the sea and burnt at least one of their fishing boats.

The court will hear the matter again on Monday.

The high court had in an interim order in September directed the Kerala government to ensure law and order at the port site and the resumption of construction activities. It was hearing separate pleas filed by Vizhinjam Adani Port Pvt Ltd and Howe Engineering Projects (I) Pvt Ltd.

The protesters dug in their heels, saying they had no plans to vacate the tents pitched outside the project site on August 16 and the one set up inside the premises on Thursday.

“Right now, we are occupying both tents and we don’t intend to vacate them since we are in no way obstructing any construction activities or creating law and order problems,” the president of the Latin Archdiocese of Trivandrum, Patrick Michael, told The Telegraph on Friday.

On the possibility of facing contempt proceedings, Michael said their counsels would continue to plead for justice before the court. “We have already apprised the court that we are only fighting for our rights since our life and livelihood have been hit the hardest because of this project and the coastal erosion it has caused.”

The petitioners, the Adani firm and Howe, had earlier sought protection from the state police or central forces since work had stopped from August 16 when the protesters pitched a tent on the road leading to the seaport. The protesters have also been regularly breaching the gates to march into the project site.

With work still affected, the Adani firm had filed a contempt plea citing non-compliance by the state police with the interim order of the court.

“We didn’t ask them to stop construction. We have only been protesting peacefully for our legitimate demands that the government has been ignoring all along,” Michael said on Friday.

At Thursday’s protest, a section of fisherfolk had attacked a policeman clicking pictures and turned against media personnel who filmed the incident. The Church

had later apologised to the media.

The Church has of late been insisting that it is for development and doesn’t want the port project to be scrapped. “Some of our people have often called for abandoning the project. But that’s only their way of expressing disappointment and anger at the government not fulfilling our demands. But we are for development and only want the construction to be stopped to enable a study to assess the damage caused by the port,” Michael said.

He took objection to Thursday’s statement by V. Sivankutty, minister of general education and labour, who accused the protesters of trying to whip up law-and-order problems.

“It is absolutely irresponsible for a minister to make such a statement as we have been maintaining peace,” Michael said.

The government has repeatedly claimed that six of the seven demands, barring shutting down the seaport, have been accepted. While the government has agreed to pay Rs 5,500 as monthly rent allowance to 335 families displaced due to coastal erosion in Vizhinjam and accommodated in a godown for over four years, the protesters have demanded an answer on who would pay the advance of several months’ rent.

Among the other demands are heavily subsidised kerosene for fishing boats, minimum wages for fishermen grounded by bad weather, and a permanent solution to fisherfolk living near the Muthalapozhi fishing harbour that has allegedly caused dangerously high waves that have claimed seven lives this year.