Colombo moviegoers arrested
[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army and Police launched an unusual operation this afternoon in Kotahena, a densely populated neighbourhood near downtown Colombo.
Search parties of soldiers and Policemen surrounded the Gaiety and Sellamahal cinemas and arrested more than hundred and fifty Tamils moviegoers who were there. The Police - SLA teams had entered the cinema halls while the afternoon shows were in progress and arrested the persons after checking the national identity cards of everybody in the theatres. The two cinemas were full as today is a Sunday and because both were showing popular Tamil movies (Rojavai Killaathey at Gaiety and Minsara Kanavu at Sellamahal). The the arrested moviegoers were herded into several buses which were waiting nearby to whisk them away to an interrogation- detention centre. Police and army sources were unable to specify where these people are being held at the moment.
|