Anti US protest in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Muslims of Vavuniya staged a vociferous protest denouncing American action in the Gulf, by burning the United States' flag in the streets and chanting slogans belittling President Bill Clinton, accusing him of making Iraq a scapegoat for his overactive libido, said sources in Vavuniya.

The public meeting was organised by the President of the Vavuniya Mosque Society and prominent citizen of the town,M .Abdullah. A procession which began at the Mosque after today's prayers, ended at the Vavuniya Kachcheri.

More than 1000 persons participated in the procession and demonstration. Muslims chanting slogans such as "Bill Clinton! perpetrate your excesses on sex but not on Iraq!.

Wanni MP Shanmuganathan (Democratic Peoples' Liberation Front -DPLF) , Urban Council member V .T Linganathan (DPLF) and Stanley (Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front -EPRLF) spoke at the meeting.

The procession handed over a petition at the Vavuniya Kachcheri to the Additional Government Agent Ragunathapillai to be forwarded to the Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, the Iraqi Ambassador in Sri Lanka and the American State Department through US Embassy in Sri Lanka.

The procession then returned to the Mosque, where the US flag was burnt. Enlarged Photos of the 'Panorama'magazine cover depicting the American President crucified across a woman's loins were also carried in the procession.