Parliament suspended following 'mock funeral ceremony'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 June 2003, 12:34 GMT]
The Speaker Mr.Joseph Michael Perera adjourned Thursday parliament for about an hour when a group of opposition parliamentarians entered the house dressed in black clothes and carrying a replica of a coffin, parliamentary sources said.

Opposition parliamentarians later sat in the well of house surrounding the replica of the coffin and conducted mock funeral ceremony. The agitation was carried out by a group of parliamentarians belonged to Peoples Alliance (PA) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in protest to the killing of a Provincial Councilor Mr.Sunil Mendis, sources said

Parliamentary sources identified PA parliamentarians Dilan Perera, Janaka Bandara Tennekoon among those who conducted the mock funeral ceremony.

Parliament sessions were suspended for about forty-five minutes on Tuesday also when the opposition protested to the government's failure to take necessary security measures against killings in the northeast, sources said.