Protesters injured as police open fire

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 January 2001, 16:02 GMT]
At least ten people, including a member of the Western Provincial Council, were wounded when police opened fire to disperse crowd protesting against rising cost of living and the Norwegian backed peace process, in Colombo Monday evening. The protest was organised by radical Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, the third largest party in the Sri Lankan parliament.
Full story >>

Marxist women protest in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 January 2001, 16:12 GMT]
A mass protest against the rising cost of living in Sri Lanka was led Tuesday in downtown Colombo by the women's wing of the radical Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP - People's Liberation Front). Hundreds of women carrying placards and shouting slogans gathered in front of the city's main railway station in Fort, Colombo's bustling business hub from 4 p.m. this afternoon for the protest. The cost of living in the island shot up when the cash strapped Sri Lankan government devalued the rupee and hiked up fuel prices last month in addition to taxes and heavy borrowing to finance a massive war budget.
Full story >>

JVP slams "secret" talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2000, 13:13 GMT]
The Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, (JVP) the Marxist party which secured 10 seats at last month's Parliamentary elections, the third largest tally, Friday condemned the "secret" talks between the Norway's special envoy Eric Solheim and the LTTE leader V.Pirapaharan held at Mallavi in the Vanni region on Wednesday.
Full story >>

Journalists protest colleague's slaying

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 October 2000, 14:37 GMT]
Over six hundred Sri Lankan journalists protested Wednesday against the brutal slaying of Jaffna based reporter Mylvaganam Nimalarajan allegedly by pro-government militiamen. The picket, conducted by the Free Media Movement, Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance and other media institutions in Colombo took place opposite Fort Railway Station for about one and a half hours commencing from 12 noon. Meanwhile, other correspondents say they have been threatened in the wake of the killing.
Full story >>

Thousands mourn slain Jaffna journalist

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 October 2000, 14:09 GMT]
More than four thousand mourners took part in the funeral of the slain Tamil journalist Nimalrajan Saturday as he was laid to rest in the cemetery of the church of Konjanji Maatha this afternoon in Jaffna town around 3.30 p.m. Posters condemning his killing came up in many parts the peninsula. Black flags were also flown in the town. Meanwhile, in Colombo, the opposition Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) charged that the EPDP was behind the Nimalrajan's killing.
Full story >>

Sinhala nationalists squabble and split

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 October 2000, 13:15 GMT]
Sihala Urumaya, the hardline Sinhala Buddhist nationalist party, split Monday over who should represent it in the Sri Lankan Parliament. The President of the party Mr.S.L.Gunasekera told a press conference in Colombo Monday that he and seven members of the Sihala Urumaya's central committee had walked out in protest Sunday from a meeting that had been convened to select one of its senior members as the national list MP of the party. The Sihala Urumaya got only one seat in the Parliament on account of the total number of votes it polled island wide at the general elections on October 10.
Full story >>

Constitution limits bargaining chip for UNP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 October 2000, 09:19 GMT]
The People's Alliance and the United National Party continued to negotiate Wednesday with the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the Eelam People's Democratic Party to muster the majority required in the Sri Lankan Parliament to form the government. However, it is unlikely that the UNP will be able to rope in enough MPs to forge a coalition because of the limitations it may face under the Sri Lankan constitution in granting important cabinet portfolios to potential allies. The decisive negotiations Wednesday are centred on cabinet portfolios.
Full story >>

SLMC crucial for PA forming government

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 October 2000, 17:00 GMT]
The People's Alliance and its minority allies, the Eelam People's Democratic Front and the National Unity Alliance, together have obtained enough seats to form the government in Sri Lanka. However, the decision of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress will be crucial for the PA in forming the government this week. Six SLMC candidates, four who contested on the PA list and two on the NUA list, have been elected.
Full story >>

PA accused of rigging, thuggery in hills

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2000, 09:23 GMT]
Independent polls observers reported widespread rigging by thugs and armed persons working for two powerful People's Alliance (PA) politicians in several parts of central province Tuesday morning. The United National Party charged that armed PA groups had blocked its polling agents from reaching their polling centres in Hanguranketha in the electoral district of Nuwara Eliya.
Full story >>

Election reported incidents rise

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 October 2000, 05:34 GMT]
Number of election related incidents reported at the Police Election Secretariat from August 28, the date nomination papers were filed, to October 6 stands at 1229, sources said.
Full story >>

Bomber in PA for mess of pottage- mother

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2000, 15:38 GMT]
The press conference of a controversial ex-bomber turned PA politician was disrupted Wednesday by his angry mother and sister who claimed that the former Marxist revolutionary had been bought over for a mess of pottage by the government. A press conference was convened this afternoon by Ajith Kumara, a leader of the Marxist revolutionary party, the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), to explain his decision to campaign in support of the People's Alliance.
Full story >>

29 groups to contest in Trinco

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2000, 10:00 GMT]
The Assistant Commissioner of Elections Mr.Suntharam Arumainayagam Monday accepted nomination lists from seventeen political parties and six independent groups to contest the forthcoming general elections in the Trincomalee district.
Full story >>

Nine parties contest in Trinco district

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2000, 14:37 GMT]
Five political parties and an Independent Group today submitted their nomination papers to contest the Trincomalee electoral district during the forthcoming general elections.
Full story >>

Parties flock to contest Vanni seats

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2000, 04:14 GMT]
Twelve political parties and independent groups are to field nominations in the Vanni Electoral District in the forthcoming elections to the Sri Lankan Parliament scheduled to be held on 10th of October.
Full story >>

JVP continues agitation against bill

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 August 2000, 16:36 GMT]
Thousands of radical leftist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) cadres Monday protested in several parts of Sri Lanka against the new constitution bill. The JVP demonstrated against the new system of elections proposed by the government in front of the supreme court in Colombo. Protests by the party against the constitution bill were held today in downtown Colombo and the provincial towns of Kandy, Galle and Matara.
Full story >>

Thousands protest against constitutional reforms

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 August 2000, 06:39 GMT]
More than four thousand protestors demonstrated against the constitutional reform bill Thursday morning from 9 a.m on the approach road to the Sri Lankan Parliament near Colombo. The large demonstration was organised by the radical leftist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberation Front). Heavily armed riot Police blocked off the approach road at a junction two kilometers from the Parliament. The draft bill containing the constitutional reforms is expected to be tabled in the national legislature later in the morning.
Full story >>

Tear gas breaks demonstration

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2000, 09:15 GMT]
Sri Lankan police fired teargas and used water cannon Thursday to disperse demonstrators protesting against the government's emergency regulations which civic rights activists say are draconian. A large number of people gathered outside the Colombo town hall in the afternoon, defying the government's ban on demonstrations, sources said.
Full story >>

All party backing sought for war

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 May 2000, 16:56 GMT]
"The government doesn't intend stopping the war. The Tigers wont be allowed to advance any further in Jaffna" said Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga addressing an all party meeting convened today to discuss the military crisis in the north. A proposal that all parties should unanimously resolve to defeat the Liberation Tigers was objected to by the Tamil United Liberation Front although the President was in agreement with this suggestion of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and the Sinhala Mahasammata Bhoomiputra party.
Full story >>

Electoral reforms stir apprehensions

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 March 2000, 12:46 GMT]
Leftist coalition partners of Sri Lanka's ruling People's Alliance and minority parties in the country's Parliament said today that they will not fully support the reforms to the island's electoral system which the government of Chandrika Kumaratunga plans to introduce in May this year. Leftists are apprehensive that their representation in the national legislature will virtually be wiped out by the proposed changes.
Full story >>

JVP demonstration

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 March 2000, 21:15 GMT]
(Photographs) TamilNet correspondents' views of the demonstration organised by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in Colombo today.
Full story >>