SL Police attack IDPs at Vavuniya Welfare Center

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2004, 16:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s police and home guards on Tuesday intervened in a private family quarrel and attacked a father and son with knives and an axe at the Sithamaparapuram Welfare center for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Vavuniya, and the victims were admitted at the Vavuniya hospital, sources in Vavuniya said.

Following the police attack at 5:30 pm on Tuesday, the occupants of the welfare center rounded up the police personnel and home guards and prevented them from escaping. The Vavuniya Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr. Kasturiratna, and Police Headquarters Inspector Mr. Wijedasa visited the spot and brought the situation under control, the sources said.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission officials in Vavuniya and the Tamil National Alliance MP, Mr. N. Sivasakthi Anandan, also rushed to the spot to observe the situation.

More than 600 IDPs from the Welfare Center rounded up the police personnel and condemned the heavy-handed action of the police on the Tamil New Year day. They demanded that action be taken against the police personnel involved in the attack.

The Police have arrested two home guards, one police constable and a police cook and are conducting inquiries.

Mr. A. Arumugam, 48, and his son, Sivakumar, 16, sustained grievous injuries in the attack and are under treatment at the Vavuniya hospital. Mr. Arumugam was attacked with an axe and has a broken arm. His son has injuries on his head from an attack with knives, the sources said.

Mr. Anandan, the TNA MP has requested the Vavuniya ASP to take stern action against the attackers and to post conscientious policemen at the welfare center.