A video has emerged capturing the moment that a group of Sinhala men threatened Tamil students who had completed a 194km protest walk to Anuradhapura prison on Saturday, demanding the release of political prisoners.
The group of men approached the students just outside the prison complex and threatened them, accusing the Tamils of “representing the LTTE”.
Sri Lankan police and prison officials are captured in the footage watching the altercation take place, but did nothing to intervene.
JDS translated extracts of the video clip, which captured the men’s’ threats.
“If you came on behalf of the LTTE, you better leave,” JDS reports on of the men saying in Sinhala. Another challenged “anyone representing the LTTE” to “come forward and talk”.
When a student asked one of the men whether the LTTE is still in existence, he was told to “shut up and listen”.
It was followed by the threat,
“If the news tonight says that you came on behalf of Tamil political prisoners, there won’t be any issue. But, if the media tonight say that you came for the LTTE, you’re finished.
Don’t get it wrong.”
See the video here.
