Protesters injured as police open fire

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 January 2001, 16:02 GMT]
At least ten people, including a member of the Western Provincial Council, were wounded when police opened fire to disperse crowd protesting against rising cost of living and the Norwegian backed peace process, in Colombo Monday evening. The protest was organised by radical Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, the third largest party in the Sri Lankan parliament.

Hundreds of people carrying placards and shouting slogans gathered in front of the city's main railway station in Fort at 5 p.m. Monday evening for the protest, said sources.

Police sources said they used water canons and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators to control the situation, and later fired live ammunition as the protestors became violent.

A large number of armed police have been deployed in the area, the sources added.

An activist of Sri Lanka's main leftist party, the People's Liberation Front, hurls back a tear gas canister at police during a demonstration in the capital Colombo on 08 January 2001, while protesting for the rising cost of living and foreign mediation in the country's ethnic problems. At least 15 people were injured after police used tear gas and rubber bullets. The government has raised the price of diesel which is commonly used in public transport by 26 percent in the past two months setting off a chain reaction of price increases. Photo:AP