Mathakal fishermen protest against navy assault

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 March 2005, 16:10 GMT]
A group of fishermen from Mathakal, a coastal area in Jaffna district, Thursday morning held a protest in front of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp in the area against the assault on about fifteen fishermen while fishing in sea by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel who were patrolling in a Dora boat. The assault took place Thursday early morning, fisheries sources said.

Earlier on Wednesday two fishermen who were fishing in catamarans were also assaulted by navy personnel, fisheries sources said.

The protest lasted for about one hour. Protesters demanded that errand navy personnel should be brought to courts. Fisheries representatives have lodged complaints with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) in Jaffna regarding the assault and harassment by armed forces, sources said.