SLA troops obstruct petition march

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army blocked a procession by the Organisation for the arrested and disappeared in Jaffna for more than an hour, whilst it was proceeding on its way to the ICRC's Jaffna office at Temple Road, Nallur in Jaffna.

The procession, comprising a large number of people, began from the organisation's office in Stanley Road, near Ariya Kulam Junction.

They intended to hand over a petition to the ICRC, requesting it to investigate the hundreds of 'disappearences' that have taken place since the conclusion of Operation Riviresa in early 1996.

SLA troops stopped the procession about 200 yards from there at a SLA sentry point located in front of the Jafnfa branch of the Ceylon Petroleum Co-operation, situated on Stanley Road.

The SLA sentries told the organisers of the procession that they will not allow it to proceed as the army did not have any information about it.

Following appeals by the leaders of the Organisation, SLA personnel at the sentry point kept the procession waiting for more than an hour while they radioed back and forth to get clearance from their superiors.

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