Black badge protest a success- CTTU

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2001, 17:45 GMT]
"The protest campaign by Tamil students, teachers and principals condemning the atrocities committed on the two Tamil married women in Mannar in the north eastern province today was a success. Over fifteen thousand teachers and four hundred thousand students participated in the campaign," said Mr.T. Mahasivam, General Secretary of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) Tuesday.

Students and teachers in all schools in the Jaffna peninsula and in Trincomalee town wore black arm bands and badges Tuesday in protest against the sexual assault by security forces personnel on Sivamani Weerakoon and Wijikala Nanthakumar who were in the custody of the Police in Mannar and similar atrocities against Tamil women by Sri Lanka's armed forces.

The CTTU organised the black badge campaign to show the Government the concern of students, teachers and principals in the north-eastern province over the alleged brutality and torture that had been committed on the two Tamil married women by service and police personnel last month when the victims were in their custody, the union leader said.