Protesters demand removal of SLA camps

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 October 2002, 16:32 GMT]
Hundreds of displaced Tamil civilians Thursday morning around 7.30 launched a sit-in-protest in front of the Chavakacheri Divisional Secretary (DS) office, demanding the immediate removal of the Sri Lanka Army camp located between Puttur junction and Kanaganpuliyadi junction in Thenmaradchi area in Jaffna district.

Protestors locked the main gate of the office and the Divisional Secretary and turned away other officials attempting to enter the premises, sources said.

A spokesman Consortium of Welfare Organisation of the Thenmaradchi, which organised the protest, said more than fifty houses of displaced have been occupied by the 51 Brigade of the SLA in the area.

Around fifty police personnel without arms were at the scene to maintain law and order. SLA soldiers were also seen about two hundred meters away from the DS office, protestors said.

An official of the consortium said that the sit-in-protest would continue till the SLA camp is removed from the area leaving the houses for the displaced to occupy.