Muslims join Tamils opposing Colombo's suppression of Thileepan Remembrance in North

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 September 2020, 23:19 GMT]
Tamil business and student communities in the North-East observed hartal on Monday condemning SL State's widespread hostility towards the annual commemoration of Lt Col Thileepan on Saturday. Occupying Colombo's police and military were trying to block the business owners from conducting the shutdown. However, the business chambers didn't succumb to the pressure. Also, Muslim traders in the cities of North fully observed shutdown. They also marked hartal in their residential suburbs in Jaffna showing solidarity with Eezham Tamils. Except for the hospitals and necessary public transportation, the cities and towns were at a standstill in Jaffna, Mullaiththeevu, Vavuniyaa and Mannaar.



The people in the predominantly Tamil areas of the East also observed hartal amidst harassments from the SL Police and former Tamil paramilitary-turned-political parties in Batticaloa.

SL Police summoned Tamil and Muslim traders in Jaffna city on Sunday evening instructing them to keep their businesses opened on Monday. However, no one succumbed to the threat from the predominantly Sinhala police.

On Sunday, SL Army soldiers from Palaali base in Valikaamam North and Oorik-kaadu in Valveddith-thu'rai in Vadamaraadchi accompanied SL Police in Achchuveali town warning the shop owners at gun-point not to heed the call for the protest on the following day.

Valikaamam East Divisional Council Chairman P. Nirosh (TNA) rushed to Achchuveali after learning the violent threat. The SL soldiers blocked his vehicle, he complained. But, the people were fully aware that such a protest was their inalienable right, he told TamilNet.

All shops remained closed at Achchu-veali on Monday.

In Vavuniyaa, Tamil-speaking traders turned a deaf ear to SL Police announcements made through loudspeakers instructing them to open the shops.



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