A protest led by the Latin Archdiocese of Trivandrum hit work at the under-construction Vizhinjam seaport in Thiruvananthapuram for the second day, with fisherfolk displaced by sea erosion continuing their siege outside the port gate on Wednesday.

The protest began on Tuesday morning with hundreds of people, who blame the sea erosion on the project, carrying black flags and blocking the entrance of the Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited project.

On Wednesday, all movement of construction material such as rocks was suspended.The current phase of the day-night strike launched by fisherfolk affiliated to the Latin Church will continue until August 31. The protesters are determined to continue the agitation in phases until the state government meets their demands.

Some 300 fishing families, mostly Christians, have been displaced with the sea gobbling up hundreds of houses in the fishing village of Vizhinjam and nearby areas over the last four years. The protesters blame this on “unscientific” artificial sea walls and a breakwater built by the port.The Rs 7,525-crore seaport is coming up as part of a public-private partnership between the Kerala government and Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited.

The project, designed to build India’s deepest port, capable of handling 80 per cent of the country’s transhipment cargo, has been plagued by delays.The vicar-general of the Latin Archdiocese of Trivandrum, Eugine H. Pereira, is among the Church leaders present at the protest site.

“These displaced people have been roughing it out in an unused Food Corporation of India godown for four years. We want the state government to rehabilitate them in rented houses until permanent settlements are created in the 17-acre land earmarked for the purpose,” he told The Telegraph.

Pereira criticised the government for not notifying the 17-acre land, currently with the animal husbandry department, for the rehabilitation of the displaced fisherfolk.Pereira said chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had met the protesters twice and four cabinet sub-committees headed by various ministers had been formed to solve the problems faced by the displaced fisherfolk.

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church on Wednesday extended support to the protest. A source at the company confirmed that work “had to be suspended for a day yesterday (Tuesday) on account of the protest, and major truck movements carrying rocks have been suspended today, as well”.“But minor works have resumed today inside the project site,” he added.Fisheries minister V. Abdurahiman, who is in Delhi to meet his central counterpart, ruled out stopping the work at the site.