Fisherfolk protest in front of SLA camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2000, 08:30 GMT]
More than a thousand fishermen and their families sat in front of the Sri Lanka army camp in Manalkaadu on Jaffna's southeastern coast from 7 a.m. Friday morning to protest against the ban on fishing in Vadamaradchi east.

Shops and schools were closed in the village in support of the fisherfolk's protest sit in. The army banned fishing in the waters off the eastern and southeastern coast of Jaffna following the fighting in Colombuthurai and the Madduvil-Sarasalai sector earlier this week.

A spokesman for the protesting fisherfolk told TamilNet that the SLA bans fishing too frequently on the southeastern coast of the peninsula and the prohibitions are therefore threatening to completely ruin their livelihoods.

Fishermen in this sector of the peninsula face many hardships due to restrictions imposed by the army and the Sri Lanka Navy which has its camp near the SLA detachment in Manalkaadu.

Rafts and boats have to be left at SLA camps by the coast in Vadamaradchi when they not out at sea. Special passes have to be obtained from the SLA to ply the trade. Sale of fish is also affected due to restrictions imposed on transportation in the peninsula.