Police bans Thileepan commemoration in Jaffna school

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 19:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police in Point Pedro in the Jaffna district Wednesday ordered the principal of Puloly Methodist Tamil Mixed School that he could not organize any event that is connected with the activities of LTTE in school premises without the permission of the police, civil sources said.

Schools in the Jaffna district are now holding Thileepan death anniversary celebrations. The Puloly Methodist Tamil Mixed School also celebrates the event by displaying the photograph of Lt. Col. Thileepan in a gaily decorated 'pandal' in the school premises.

A group of police personnel Wednesday morning entered the school premises, which is located at Manthikai in Puloly, and saw a group of students and teachers attending Thileepan commemoration meeting, sources said.

The police personnel immediately ordered the school authorities to remove all decorations and the photograph of Thileepan. They further told the principal that this type of celebrations could not be organized in schools without the permission of the police.

However, the principal, teachers and students told the police officials that all schools in Jaffna district are celebrating the Thileepan commemoration events and they were not in a position to accede to the police order. Heated arguments ensued between the school authorities and the police and later the Police personnel withdrew from the scene, sources said.

Now the civil groups are taking steps to bring this matter to the notice of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Jaffna, sources said

The Vadamaradchi zonal education office is located in the Puloly School complex, sources said.

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