Protest in Jaffna barred

17 January 2012 01:20 pm

Around 800 persons who were heading towards Jaffna along the A9 road to stage a protest against the disappearance of two JVP dissidents Lalith Kumar and Kugan Maruganathan, were blocked at Omanthai, Vavuniya today.
The protest was organised by the Movement for People’s Struggle of the JVP dissidents together with a few other civil society organisations and political parties. They were heading towards Jaffna in 20 vehicles including 12 buses.

The Movement’s Convener Chameera Koswatte said that all of them left Anuradhapura at 7.00am today in the hope of reaching Jaffna in the evening.

“Along the way, we were stopped at several points and checked. We were able to reach Omanthai by 5.00pm. Omanthai is around 100 kilomtres off Anuradhapura,” he said.

Mr. Koswatte said that the military did not give any valid reason for the denial of entry to Jaffna.

“They cited road repairs as the reason,” he said.

Meanwhile, TELO Political Leader M.K. Sivajilingam who was in Jaffna said that the security had been tightened in and around the Jaffna bus stand in anticipation of the protest by the JVP dissidents. (Kelum Bandara)