UNP, EPDP clash in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 November 2001, 14:04 GMT]
Police in Jaffna arrested two United National Party candidates and detained a vehicle of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) Wednesday in Jaffna following clashes in which a car was attacked and about seven persons were injured. Armed cadres of the EPDP, a major coalition partner of the ruling People's Alliance regime, attacked a campaign car of the UNP on Stanley Road in Jaffna town. The UNP car was damaged and three persons in it were assaulted by the EPDP cadres, Police sources said.

Meanwhile, two UNP candidates and their supporters assaulted members of the EPDP who had prevented them from pasting campaign posters near Sangaraththai this afternoon around 1.30 p.m. wounding four.

The armed group of EPDP cadres had come in a vehicle and threatened the UNPers and had attempted to intimidate them by firing in the air.

But the UNPers had retaliated by severely assaulting the EPDP cadres and injuring at least four of them, according to a party official at Mr. T. Maheswaran's office in Jaffna town. Mr. Maheswaran is the UNP's chief candidate in Jaffna.

The EPDP then lodged a complaint about the assault at the police station in Manipay. The UNP official in Jaffna said that the Manipay Police arrested two candidates of the party for assault and had also detained the EPDP's vehicle.