Shut down observed in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 October 2008, 20:10 GMT]
A general shut down was observed in Batticaloa district Monday against Tamil youths being abducted and killed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Tamil youths arrested being killed, civil society sources in Batticaloa said. All public and private institutions, business establishments were shut down in Batticaloa district though SLA troops compelled the shop owners to open the shops.

An organization called 'Tamil speaking people of Eastern Province' called all Tamil speaking people to observe the shut down in protest against the killings of three of the five Tamil youths arrested on 2 October by Batticaloa police.The bodies of the youths were found washed ashore on the beaches Paalamunai in Kaaththaankudi and Naavaladi beach, in Batticaloa district a week after the arrest. The five Tamil youths, all of them employees of Valampuri shop in Batticaloa town, were arrested by Batticaloa police who later released two youths. The parents of the five Tamil youths had visited the youth while they were held in detention on the day of arrest. The next day when the parents went to Batticaloa police station they did not find three of the youths arrested. Batticaloa police had told the parents that all five youths have been released. Parents of the youths killed allege that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were complicit in the killings.