Whilst the Tamil resurgence rally in Trincomalee passed off peacefully weekend before last, tensions flared around the sister event in Vavuniya last week with Sri Lankan troops stopping people trying to attend the event at the main crossing point and others returning after it.
The event was held Thursday, with thousands of people, including academics, religious leaders and social activists, gathering in Vavuniya Urban Council grounds to reaffirm the Vavuniya Declaration, a political statement issued at the first of the Resurgence rallies in the Northeast held also in Vavuniya on July 27.
Last Friday’s rally is the last but one of a series of ‘Tamil Resurgance’ rallies which have been held since then in every district of the Northeast bar one – and the concluding event is to be held in Amparai on November 12.
Tensions had already risen in Vavuniya last Wednesday after grenades were tossed into the building at which the rally’s organizing committee was meeting. No was injured and the two attackers rode off on a motorbike. Vavuniya is a Sri Lanka Army garrison town.
Tensions escalated Thursday when a large group of Tamil youths on their way to the event on bicycles carrying a large poster of Tamil Tiger leader Vellupilai Pirabakaran were blocked at the Thandikulam check point.
There is no official bar on either organizing the event or attending it, and tempers quickly flared. With the soldiers’ actions breaching Article 2 of the February 2002 Ceasefire agreement which prohibits harassment of civilians traveling through checkpoints, international truce monitors were brought into the fray.
Unable to proceed, the youths slept in the demilitarized zone – as did many others traveling to the rally from LTTE-controlled parts of the Vavuniya district -and following morning blockaded the A9 highway with their bicycles in protest.
Meanwhile, many participants from the Convention were forced to stay in Vavuniya overnight after the rally when the military closed the border two hours before the time agreed with organizers.
Tension heightened again Friday as these participants returning to the Vanni were again denied access by Army officials at the checkpoint.
Additional Sri Lankan security forces and police personnel were brought in to maintain control the crowd. Earlier soldiers and policemen were deployed in large numbers in the town and civilians were subjected to severe checking.
The situation grew hostile after the police used tear gas on the crowd, and protestors responded by smashing up a police vehicle - prompting the arrest of two University students.
To defuse the situation, Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarians, Sri Lanka military commanders, police officials, an official of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and officers from the International Red Cross (ICRC) met in Vavuniya.
After this meeting, the SLMM official, ICRC officers and TNA Parliamentarians met the LTTE political leader of Vavuniya and the district’s Students Federation Organizer to consult with them.
The SLA agreed to allow those crossing into Vanni first, but refused to allow those traveling into Vavaniya to do so carrying Mr. Pirapaharan’s photograph.
Compiled from TamilNet reports.
The event was held Thursday, with thousands of people, including academics, religious leaders and social activists, gathering in Vavuniya Urban Council grounds to reaffirm the Vavuniya Declaration, a political statement issued at the first of the Resurgence rallies in the Northeast held also in Vavuniya on July 27.
Last Friday’s rally is the last but one of a series of ‘Tamil Resurgance’ rallies which have been held since then in every district of the Northeast bar one – and the concluding event is to be held in Amparai on November 12.
Tensions had already risen in Vavuniya last Wednesday after grenades were tossed into the building at which the rally’s organizing committee was meeting. No was injured and the two attackers rode off on a motorbike. Vavuniya is a Sri Lanka Army garrison town.
Tensions escalated Thursday when a large group of Tamil youths on their way to the event on bicycles carrying a large poster of Tamil Tiger leader Vellupilai Pirabakaran were blocked at the Thandikulam check point.
There is no official bar on either organizing the event or attending it, and tempers quickly flared. With the soldiers’ actions breaching Article 2 of the February 2002 Ceasefire agreement which prohibits harassment of civilians traveling through checkpoints, international truce monitors were brought into the fray.
Unable to proceed, the youths slept in the demilitarized zone – as did many others traveling to the rally from LTTE-controlled parts of the Vavuniya district -and following morning blockaded the A9 highway with their bicycles in protest.
Meanwhile, many participants from the Convention were forced to stay in Vavuniya overnight after the rally when the military closed the border two hours before the time agreed with organizers.
Tension heightened again Friday as these participants returning to the Vanni were again denied access by Army officials at the checkpoint.
Additional Sri Lankan security forces and police personnel were brought in to maintain control the crowd. Earlier soldiers and policemen were deployed in large numbers in the town and civilians were subjected to severe checking.
The situation grew hostile after the police used tear gas on the crowd, and protestors responded by smashing up a police vehicle - prompting the arrest of two University students.
To defuse the situation, Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarians, Sri Lanka military commanders, police officials, an official of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and officers from the International Red Cross (ICRC) met in Vavuniya.
After this meeting, the SLMM official, ICRC officers and TNA Parliamentarians met the LTTE political leader of Vavuniya and the district’s Students Federation Organizer to consult with them.
The SLA agreed to allow those crossing into Vanni first, but refused to allow those traveling into Vavaniya to do so carrying Mr. Pirapaharan’s photograph.
Compiled from TamilNet reports.
