A protest in Mannar yesterday called for the release of the arrested MP and former minister Rishad Bathiudeen.
Protesters started the agitation at 9.30 AM near the Mannar Bazaar holding placards and raising slogans in condemnation of the arrest of Bathiudeen.
Hundreds of people took part in the protests including officials and members of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) (the party led by Bathiudeen) and the general public.
The participants in the agitation said that they were “anguished by the arrest of Bathiudeen early in the morning” and by the fact that not even the speaker of the parliament was informed of the arrest of an MP.
The Tamil poster reads: "Was the unjust arrest made in order to please ethnic chauvinists?"
It was also alleged during the protests that the government had made the arrests in order to hide its inability to track down the miscreants involved in the Easter Sunday attacks two years ago.
The protesters demanded that the President, Prime Minister and fellow parliamentarians come forward together to take action to release the arrested MP Bathiudeen.
MP Rishad Bathiudeen was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department on April 24 in connection to the Easter Sunday attacks under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
