EPDP's relief effort draws protest in Vadamaradchy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 February 2005, 03:57 GMT]
Large number of people Tuesday morning held a demonstration in front of Vadamaradchchi office of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) located in Manthikai against distributing relief materials to Tsunami victims for political gain. Protesters collected relief materials distributed to several people and burnt them in public, sources said. Manthikai is a residential town located 3 km South of Point Pedro.

Large crowd of tsunami victims gathered in front of the EPDP's Manthikai office on hearing that EPDP activists were distributing relief materials. However the distribution was limited to certain persons but not to all, sources said.

However, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and policemen who were guarding the EPDP office started to check every one who gathered at the site to collect relief items. This created tension at the site. A section of the crowd thereafter forcibly collected the relief materials earlier distributed to a few and burnt them in front of the EPDP office.

More policemen and soldiers were immediately deployed to quell further unrest in the area.

Protesters dispersed after about one hour from the site, sources said.