Trincomalee town under 18-hour curfew

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2004, 06:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police clamped a curfew for eighteen-hours in Trincomalee town and its suburbs from Monday noon till Tuesday morning 6 a.m. following sporadic violent incidents reported from various parts of the town during the general shut down called by the Tamil Peoples Forum of the Trincomalee district in protest to the killings and assault on Tamil civilians in the Tamil districts of the northeast by members of the State armed forces.

Trincomalee town was completely paralysed Monday as public servants, teachers, students and traders observed a general shut down following the appeal by the Tamil Peoples Forum of the Trincomalee district against killings and assaults on civilians in the Tamil districts of the northeast province by members of the State armed forces during the Heroes Day week celebrations which concluded last Saturday.

Government and provincial council offices, state and private banks, local and international non-governmental organizations, schools of all mediums, cinema halls, and private educational centres were closed down. Traders of all the three communities closed down their business establishments and eating-houses except in Sinhala areas. State and private sector transport services also came to a standstill except few places where Sinhalese live in majority.

Two violent incidents were reported Monday morning- one from Tampalakamam where a passenger bus had knocked down a Tamil youth. Police sources said this incident had taken place when a group of persons blocked the road. The driver and conductor of the bus were taken into custody, police said.

In the second incident that took place at Andanakulam area about two km off Trincomalee town some unidentified person had thrown a hand grenade on a bus which was on its way to Trincomalee. Three, all from the major community were injured in the incident. Injured were admitted in the Trincomalee general hospital, police said.