Demonstrators urge SL President to sign aid deal, resume peace talks
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 June 2005, 21:39 GMT]
Representatives from 42 civil society organizations, leftist parties and trade unions, demonstrated in support of the proposed Post Tsunami Operational Management Structure (PTOMS), previously called Joint Mechanism (JM), opposite the state controlled Lake House, on Wednesday from 4.30 PM to 6.30 PM. The demonstrators shouted slogans against the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and demanded the Government to banish Mr. Somawanse Amerasinghe, the leader of the JVP, from Sri Lanka. The demonstration was oraganised by the HIRU Group that works against chauvinism in southern Sri Lanka.
 Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Upcountry People's Front (UPF) also took part in the protest. TNA parliamentarian. N.Raviraj, Gnanasiri Kothigoda from the New Left Front, Upcountry People's Front parliamentarian P. Rathakrishnan and Western Front Peoples Front leader Mano Ganesan spoke at the end of the demonstration. Participants took part in the demonstration carrying the placards and banners in support of PTOMS and urged the President to sign PTOMS with the LTTE and to take steps to resume the stalled peace process. The demonstration was held 100 meters away from the Fort Railway station, where extremist buddhist monks staged fast-to-death campaign.
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