Vavuniya students protest

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 July 1999, 19:27 GMT]
The senior students of five schools in Vavuniya town area staged a demonstration today, demanding the opening of an access route to the Vanni and the conduction of the Advanced Level examinations in the region, just as in other areas of Sri Lanka.

More than 500 students and some of the people of the Vanni stranded in Vavuniya participated in the demonstration, said sources.



At one point during the day, scuffles broke out when a group of demonstrators tried to enter into the Kachcheri (local government) offices and the staff prevented them from doing so.

During the struggle, the demonstrators broke a few window glasses and a few flowerpots, the sources said.

However the situation was brought under control and the demonstrators continued their campaign peacefully till the afternoon.

At the end of the demonstration, the students handed over a memorandum to S.Ragunathapillai, the Additional Government Agent (Vavuniya).

Elashwere, a transformer at the Kurumankaadu Lorry Park area about two km west of north west of Vavuniya town was blasted around 9.25 pm tonight, affecting parts of the Kurumankaadu area, said Electricity Board officials.

This is the 21st transformer blasted in the area so far, they said.