Police had obtained a Court order for 14-days banning all protests and hartals in the North and East in commemoration of any LTTE member. Speaking to the Daily News, Northern Province Senior DIG Sanjeewa Dharmaratne said that despite the Hartal staged yesterday, all government departments and establishments were open yesterday and despite a reduction in the number of private busses, the SLTB busses had operated as usual.
However, he said that some of the schools had closed early due to the absence of teachers and relatively fewer students attending.
Transport services were in operation and many shops in the Vavuniya, Ampara,Trincomalee remained open despite the hartal.
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) member Selvam Adaikalanadan said, the TNA together with the Tamil parties, including Tamil People’s National Alliance, All Ceylon Tamil Congress and the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front initiated the hartal against the government’s oppression to prevent the rights of Tamils in the North and East.
“The government is stopping us from carrying out our rights, and in protest, we have started this hartal, several shops and other businesses have closed in the Vanni district. I am unaware of the situation in Jaffna, together with TNA and other Tamil alliances we are fighting for the right to express ourselves concerning any matter”.
The agitation started when the government had obtained police orders from preventing the commemoration of those deceased during the war.
A few weeks ago, former Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) MP M.K. Sivajilingam was arrested for commemorating former LTTE member Thileepan, despite a court order preventing such events, and was later granted bail by the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court.
