Students hoist Tamileelam flag, continue Poopathy celebrations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 12:39 GMT]
Students at the Kokuvil Technical College located 3 km north of Jaffna town hoisted the Tamileelam flag as part of the Annai Poopathy memorial celebrations Saturday 10.30 a.m., student sources said. Students replaced the picture frame Annai Poopathi that was destroyed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who forcefully entered the compound and attacked the students Friday.

Although more than one hundred SLA soldiers were stationed along Palaly road near the Technical College, large number of students accompanied by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S Gajendran participated in the celebrations.

Mr Gajendran hoisted the Tamileelam National flag.

Meanwhile, similar celebrations were held in Advanced Technological Institute (ATI) located on Palaly road , and in Jaffna Campus, sources said. Students hoisted Tamileelam flag and held memorial for Annai Poopathi. The celebrations are to continue for 4 weeks, student organizers said.

The celebrations at ATI follow the clash between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and students Friday when the SLA soldiers forcefully entered the College compound, attacked and injured 15 students. The SLA destroyed Annai Poopathy's garlanded picture frame and claimed that hoisting the flag was against the CeaseFire Agreement (CFA).