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SL Navy brutally assaults Tamil fishers in Mullaith-theevu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 July 2020, 09:33 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala Navy brutally assaulted Tamil fisher families at Puthu-maaththa'lan in Mullaiththeevu causing injuries to a father, his son and three women in the early hours of Thursday. The SL Navy entered the house of fisheries society leader Mahendran Alex alias Suman. It attacked his family members using batons causing severe injuries to his father, 55-year-old Mahalingam Mahendran and 28-year-old Mahendran Nixon, the younger brother. Three women have also sustained injuries. The fisheries society leader said the violent attack was deliberate and unprovoked. The residents interpret the violent episode as part of an aggressive campaign against the peaceful protesters demanding resettlement in the nearby Keappaa-pulavu. The SL Navy is also having a dispute with Tamil fishers who are opposed to the sea cucumber poachers from the South.



The SL Navy had come to the area around 11:30 pm Wednesday and started to toe a fishing boat anchored off the nearby jetty, he said.

The Navy sailors had used a boat that belonged to Alex's fishing community to toe the other vessel.

There was no valid reason for the SL Navy to act against the boat and the nearby fishing community peacefully objected the wanton operation, he said.

However, additional SLN troops were deployed in two buses, a truck and few other vehicles commencing a widespread attack around 1:30 am, according to Mr Alex.

Mahalingam Mahendran was unconscious for two hours as the SL Navy was chasing the people until 4:30 am, Mr Alex told TamilNet.

The SLN sailors used batons to attack the victims and snatched 317,000 rupees away from the house along with an electricity generator. Then the navy sailors put the robbed properties into the seized vessel and taken it away, he blamed.

Two days ago, SL Navy detained two Tamil youth who were associated with the Keappaa-pulavu protest, and the SL Navy has increasingly adopted a confrontational response especially after Gotabaya Rajapaksa becoming the SL President, the residents said.

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