Gurunagar observes hartal

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 July 2005, 11:09 GMT]
A general shut down (Hartal) was observed Monday in Gurunagar, a suburb in Jaffna town, in protest of the death of a fisherman Saturday early morning when he got entangled into the live electric fence of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which is located at the entrance to the jetty. Shops, schools and public markets were closed. Fishermen did not go to sea, sources said



Hundreds of fishermen held a sit-in-protest in front of the army checkpoint located at the Fisheries Jetty.

Meanwhile, roadblocks were placed at important junctions along the Beach Road surrounding several army checkpoints and few youths were seen burning tyres at the site, sources said.

Army soldiers removed the roadblocks when youths dispersed from the site, sources said. Shops were closed and fishermen did not go to sea in Koddady, another suburb of Jaffna town in support of Gurunagar fishermen protest, sources said.

Four fishermen societies in Gurunagar later handed over a memorandum to Major N.Kodituwakku of Gurunagar Army with copies to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Norwegian Foreign Ministry, foreign envoys in Colombo and the European Union, sources said.