Batticaloa University appeals over possible UK ban

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 February 2001, 12:00 GMT]
Hundreds of students, and members of the academic and non-academic staff of the Eastern University in Batticaloa picketed Thursday urging the British Government not proscribe the Liberation Tigers under the new Terrorism Act. The protest was also in support of the Tamil people's right to self determination, organisers said.

The students and employees held a token fast from 9 a.m. till 3 p.m. at the campus grounds said sources.

Student sources said that the picketing was a part of the planned 'Pongu Thamil' (Tamil upsurge) arrangement organised by the university communities in Jaffna, Vavuniya and Batticaloa.

Students have also launched signature campaign for a memorandum to be sent to the British government urging it not proscribe the Liberation Tigers. A student leader told TamilNet that they were aiming to collect more than 100,000 signatures in support of the memorandum.

Several posters and banners in support of Tamil people's right to self determination and condemning human right violations committed by the government troops against the Tamil people were put up in the campus premises, the sources said.