Protests over planned evictions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Over 500 persons staged a peaceful sit down protest (Satyagraha) before the Trincomalee Divisional Secretariat on Friday, protesting against the notice issued by the Sri Lanka Government that it intended to acquire the land on which their homes had stood for 30years, said sources in Trincomalee.

The homes in question, were sited on private land at Thilagarthottam in the heart of Trincomalee town, where the original occupants had settled as squatters, but to which their descendants had received titles over a period of time.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources intends to acquire this land where over 200 Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese families have put up permanent buildings, to construct a housing scheme for fisher families.

The protesters handed over a memorandum stating their opposition to being evicted from the land where some of them had lived for around 30 years. V.Velummaiyilum, Divisional Secretary, Trincomalee, took the memorandum and promised to pass it on to the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, said sources.