650 Tamils expelled from Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police closed down three lodging houses in downtown Colombo this morning leaving about 650 Tamils from the north-east stranded on the roads. The Police told them to leave immediately to the north or east.

The people who were thus thrown out on the road tried to seek refuge in the Ponnambalavaanesvarar temple in Kochchikadai in Kotahena as there was a heavy down pour this morning.

The Kotahena Police, however, ordered the temple authorities not to allow any one into the premises.

So the temple gates were shut and locked up by the temple workers before the people could move into the Ponnambalavaanesvarar temple said sources.

The EPDP intervened in the matter this evening and held discussions with the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police for the area.

He has asked the EPDP to find a temporary shelter for the stranded Tamils until the matter can be resolved.

Sources said that the Police was reacting to unconfirmed information that the female suicide bomber responsible for yesterday's explosion near an airforce checkpoint in downtown Colombo is said to have stayed in one of the lodges.

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