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Trinco
on powder keg Clashes erupted when pro-LTTE groups wanted to hoist the LTTE's Tiger flag in the Trinco town and the Sinhala Sanvidanaya backed by the JVP wanted to hoist a Sinhala flag in a counter move. Tension prevailed in the city throughout Heroes's week and in the run-up to the climax on Heroes’ day or Maveerar day. But things came to a head, when on November 26, Friday, the Tiger flag was hoisted at the Hindu Cultural Hall on Inner Port Road in the government-controlled area. The security forces requested the Scandinavian ceasefire monitors in Trincomalee to remove the flag. Kaviyanban, the LTTE's Trincomalee education chief, and Sivakumar, the group's political chief in Trinco, told the monitors that the flag would remain on the mast. The LTTE’s intransigence galvanised JVP parliamentarian Jayantha Wijesekera and the Sinhala Sanvidanaya into action. They pointed out that the hoisting of the flag was a violation of the ceasefire agreement and wanted the security forces and the ceasefire monitors to bring down the LTTE flag. Checkpoints were erected and fortified at all access points to the Inner Port Road where the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Trincomalee office is situated. This measure was taken to prevent demonstrators from heading towards the SLMM office. The protestors then converged on the fourth milepost junction, stalling traffic on the Trincomalee-Habarana road. The angry crowd then made an attempt to go in a procession to the venue where LTTE supporters were celebrating Maveerar's day, but was thwarted by police. When protestors tried to break-through the police barrier, police officers were compelled to baton charge the crowd. Undeterred, the crowd then threw stones and missiles at the police. Tear gas was used to disperse the crowd. After a few hours the protestors returned. This time their anger was not only directed at the monitors but at the security forces. The protestors also burned an effigy of SLMM chief Trond Furuhovde and the Norwegian national flag. JVP parliamentarian Wijesekera addressing the gathering hit out at the police, saying they were there to protect the Tigers and not the Sinhalese. His speech was disrupted by the sound of gunfire from a nearby location. The crowd, armed with poles and other blunt weapons, ran in the direction of the gunfire. What had happened there was a different but related incident. A Tamil youth had clashed with members of the North East Sinhala Sanvidanaya after Tiger flags and decorations to celebrate Heroes’ day had been pulled down and the Sinhala Sanvidanaya flag had been raised instead. Both sides had exchanged missiles. The army was forced to shoot in the air to disperse the crowd. The two incidents prompted SSP Trincomalee Upali Hewage to impose a local curfew from 3 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following day. In spite of the curfew, the Sinhala Sanvidanaya programme went ahead with a programme to commemorate war heroes and national heroes such as Keppetipola on the same day the LTTE celebrated its war heroes. The JVP-backed group led a procession with scores of three-wheelers being decorated with Buddhist and National flags. A police road block at Sirimapura prevented them from proceeding to Thirukadalur. But a fleet of three-wheelers that attempted to go past an area decorated with Tiger flags came under attack, heightening the tension. Police took timely action by preventing other three-wheelers from going past the area. The police were forced to use tear gas when their advice was not heeded by protestors who attacked the police with bottles and other missiles. The tear gas attacks resulted in drivers deserting the vehicles and seeking refuge in houses in the area. Among those wounded were children, who had accompanied their mothers. The Army was called in to maintain peace after the protestors were dispersed. The tension continued last Sunday, a day after LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran made his Heroes' Day speech. LTTE cadres were seen distributing hand bills in Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffna and Trincoamlee areas. The message in the handbill was a call for a hartal on Monday in protest against what they called the JVP sabotage of 'Maveerar day' celebrations. As LTTE supporters observed a hartal on Monday, two persons on a motorcycle threw a grenade at a private bus running between the fourth milepost and the town. The bus hit a light post and turned turtle in the explosion while the driver was killed. He was identified as 22-year-old Thilak Sampath of Mihindupura. In a retaliatory attack a Tamil from Abhayapura was beaten and a bus was set ablaze. To prevent further backlash, the police imposed a curfew from noon to 6 a.m. the following day. Meanwhile, a driver of a tourist van from Kandy was kidnapped and two Tamil acquaintances were beaten when he came up to Uppuveli in search of petrol. The van was set ablaze and the police found his body the following day morning with hands tied to his back. Several fishing families in Sirimapura left their homes fearing trouble and two houses here were set on fire the night they left. After these incidents, the security forces, the LTTE, the SLMM and civil groups in Trincomalee are conducting regular meetings to maintain peace in the area. Though the situation has returned to normal, the security forces are maintaining stringent security measures. We
had nothing to do with it-JVP Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Weerawansa said, pro LTTE elements were merely using Heroes’s Day to create problems. He also referred to recent events at the Peradeniya University, where Police were called in when pro- LTTE students had protested when they were not allowed to put up a poster of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran inside the campus. He also referred to the incident where TNA members had lit lamps to commemorate Heroes’ Day at the parliamentary complex. Saying that these acts were done to 'provoke the people', Mr. Weerawansa urged the people not to fall into the LTTE trap of trying to create 'racial unrest' to gain sympathy for the Tamil cause. |
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