9 people arrested

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
A special Sri Lankan Police investigation team took nine persons into custody today from Kaluwanchikudy and Kattankudy in Batticaloa in connection with the vehicle bomb blast in Galle on Sunday. Five of the arrested persons were women said Police sources in Batticaloa. The nine persons have been taken to Colombo they said.
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Jaffna drivers in a quandry

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Drivers in Jaffna complain that the Sri Lankan traffic Police is making unfair demands of them.
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Archbishop Tutu voices support for 'freedom struggle' - paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
"The majority Sinhalese are in power and are unwilling to extend the political and social rights they enjoy to the Tamil people" said Archbishop Emeritus The Most Rev. Desmond Tutu in a recent statement issued in Capetown, South Africa, according to the Tamil Guardian newspaper.
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Muslim fisherman shot by Police

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
A member of the LTTE shot dead in the Batticaloa lagoon off Kattankudy early morning today around 5.15 a.m. turned out to be a poor Muslim fisherman when the body was identified later in the morning by his family. Kattankudy is an economically booming and densely populated Muslim town, four miles south of Batticaloa.
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Token fast in Batticaloa prison

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
More than 250 Tamil prisoners in the Batticaloa jail went on a token fast yesterday to show their solidarity with the Tamil political prisoners in the Kalutara jail.
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Application to collect Kalutara bodies rejected

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
A writ application to take the bodies of the Tamil political prisoners who were killed in the Kalutara prison on December 12 to their homes in the north, was rejected by the Kalutara magistrate today. The writ was filed this morning in the Kalutara courts by the Tamil human rights lawyer, Maheswari Velayutham on behalf of the prisoners' families.
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Three Tamil prisoners killed by Sinhala inmates

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Reports reaching Colombo today revealed that three Tamil prisoners among those who transferred recently from the Colombo magazine (Welikada) prison to the Kalutara jail were killed today in an attack by Sinhala prisoners allegedly incited by some prison officials. Seven others were injured and have been admitted to the Nagoda hospital in Kalutara.
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Party leaders to discuss Vanni situation

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Deputy Minister for Defence Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte called all party leaders in Parliament today for a discussion about the situation in the Vanni.
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Forced labour on Eastern road

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The people of Kirankulam were again taken by the Special Task Force today for making a by road for its camp at Kurukkalmadam, about fourteen kilometers from Batticaloa town.
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Claim of normalcy in Jaffna questionable: VoT

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers radio service said today in a comment which usually follows its night news bulletin that the Sri Lankan government's claim that there is normalcy in the Jaffna peninsula has now become questionable in the light of the recent Amnesty International report on "disappearances" in Jaffna.
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Pandimadu refugees arrested

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army in the Valaichenai fishing harbour detachment 20 miles north of the Batticaloa town rounded up all the inmates of the Pandimadu refugee camp which is about two kilometers east of Valaichenai town and herded them, including women and children, to the harbour premises for interrogation.
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Colombo moviegoers arrested

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army and Police launched an unusual operation this afternoon in Kotahena, a densely populated neighbourhood near downtown Colombo.
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Riot police smashed prison protest

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan riot Police broke up a fast unto death protest of Tamil prisoners and snatched away the camera of the Virakesari (Tamil daily) photographer who was at the scene this morning as the Sri Lankan government tried to control the repercussions of the developments in its Welikada jail.
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Protest fast in Welikade prison

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Eight Tamil prisoners detained in Colombo's Welikade prison are staging a protest fast, demanding that they are charged and their cases be heard soon.
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Colombo prison protest spreads

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Over 200 Tamil detainees detained in Colombo's Welikada prison are staging a protest fast, demanding that they are charged and their cases be heard soon. Some of them have taken to the prison rooftops to highlight their protest.
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LTTE leader delivers Heroes Day address

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
In his annual Heroes day speech, the LTTE leader Mr. V. Pirabakaran said that the Sri Lankan government's devolution package was a political ploy staged to justify the strategic aims of its military campaign in the Tamil homelands. Mr. Pirabakaran's speech was broadcast on the Voice of Tigers radio today.
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SLA orders Tamil homage to lion flag

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army commander of the Punnaalaikadduvan area in Jaffna has instructed all school principals there to hoist the lion flag before prayers in the morning. The commander had observed that no school in the area flew the lion flag even on special occasions. The practice stopped more than two decades ago in Jaffna.
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SLA poster campaign in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army's Psychological-operations unit has put up posters in Batticaloa town urging the local Tamils not to support the Liberation Tigers.
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300 Tamils arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
More than three hundred Tamils were arrested this afternoon in Colombo. The arrests are in reaction to the attack on the Kelanitissa power station on Friday.
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Tamils denied employment generation projects

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The massive unemployment problem among the Tamil youth in the war ravaged North-eastern province of Sri Lanka was brought into focus again today as applications piled up for seventy five vacancies for minor staff in the schools of the Batticaloa district.
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