Anti-peace march reaches final stage

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 September 2003, 15:34 GMT]
The final leg of the five day protest march organized by the Patriotic National Movement (PNM), an umbrella group of Sinhala nationalist parties, against what it called the "division of the country" and the proposed establishment of an interim administration in the northeast province, is to start Wednesday morning from Kudawatte towards Lipton's Park in Colombo, organizers said.

The Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP), the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Buddhist Monks and other Sinhala Nationalists are joined together under the PNM umbrella in their bid to stop the proposed interim administration for the Northeast, and more generally, granting meaningful powers to the Tamil-dominated Northeast province, political analysts say.

Several parliamentarians of the SLFP, MEP and the JVP are participating in the protest march, which commenced Saturday morning, with an offering to the Sacred Tooth Relic and floral tributes to the statues of Venerable Wariyapola Sri Sumangala Thera and Monrawila Keppetipola Adigar at the Mahamaluwa, located opposite the Dala Maligawe, sources said.

The fourth day protest march from Nittambuwa arrived in Kadawatte Tuesday evening with hundreds of protestors shouting slogans and carrying banners, walking along the Colombo-Kandy road towards Colombo, the country's capital, sources said.

Addressing a meeting held at Nittambuwa Monday evening, Peoples' Alliance parliamentarian Mr.Anura Bandaranaike, brother of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, vowed that he would "fight unto death for safeguarding the integrity and sovereignty of the country." He charged that the country's security is in danger as the United National Front (UNF) government had allowed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to run their administration.

The first day march ended at Mawanella and on the second day at Warakapola and the third day at Nittambuwa, sources said.

Meanwhile, the Police have diverted the traffic on the Colombo-Kandy from Nittambuwa Monday through alternative routes to avoid traffic jam, police said.

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