3RD LEAD

SL Police arrests TNPF politicians on Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 May 2013, 11:30 GMT]
Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) politician and former parliamentarian Selvaraja Kajendran and Visvalingam Manivannan of the TNPF and thirteen others were arrested by the Sri Lankan Police at Mannaar Saturday afternoon while they were attending a Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day function. The SL police is trying to curb the activities of the TNPF politicians by attempting to detain them under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), initial reports from Mannaar said.

The TNPF politicians were attending the event at Periya-kadai in Mannaar after visiting Vavuniyaa where a memorial symbol put up on the occasion of Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day was destroyed Friday night.

The SL Police has detained three TNPF politicians, 6 other men including a jornalist and 6 women from Panangkaddi-koddu in Mannaar, news sources further said.

The SL Police has come with a false allegation that the TNPF politicians were paying homage to LTTE fighters, the sources further said.

The arrests have taken place when the remembrance event, organised at the Multi Purpose Corporative Society was scheduled to begin.

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