Occupying SL military desecrates Remembrance Day candles, harasses Tamil politicians

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2020, 23:20 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military and SL Police were blocking Tamil political parties from marking Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day in Jaffna (TNPF) and Batticaloa (TNPF and ITAK) meting out various harassments. Former Chief Minister Justice CV Wigneswaran (TMK) was turned away at a checkpoint by the SL military Monday morning. The SL Police in Jaffna approached the SL judiciary on Sunday in a bid to block TNPF leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and his fellow party members from attending the Remembrance event. The SL Police was arguing that they had failed to comply with COVID-19 measures during the remembrance events held earlier. However, they managed to convince the judge on Monday reversing the court decision with the help of a team of attorneys. Meanwhile, Sinhala soldiers were roaming around desecrating the remembrance lights that were lit by the people in Jaffna city in the evening.





SL Army soldiers and Police blocked three remembrance events in Batticaloa district, at Vaakarai, Naavaladi and in the city of Batticaloa.

The TNPF had organised Vaakarai and Naavaladi events. However, the TNPF Batticaloa team proceeded to another locality after being turned back at Puthu-mukaththuvaaram at Kalladi.

The TNPF went ahead with a limited number of people staging the remembrance at a coastal spot 3 km away from Kiraan.



SL military intelligence beefed up its presence everywhere to disturb the remembrance events.

The intelligence operatives had managed to get an interim order from Batticaloa Magistrate AC Rizwan against ITAK observing remembrance at its office, located on Nalliah Road in the city.

SL Police had approached the Magistrate to issue the order with the argument that “those opposed” to the remembrance could disturb the gathering and that COVID-19 measures could be disturbed. The ITAK members condemned the act of the SL Police and the biased act of the Magistrate simply buying the arguments furnished by the Sinhala police.

Tamil journalists who were harassed at seven different checkpoints on their way to Mu'l'livaaykkaal from Jaffna earlier in the day said there was no checking at all when they came back to Jaffna in the afternoon.

Although the SL military was harassing the people, the remembrance was marked as temple bells were tolled at 7:00 p.m.





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