According to reports from Jaffna, the Jaffna University students wearing black bands were staging the protest rally opposite the university main entrance around 11 am when hundreds of police and military personnel attacked them with poles, wires and cables, seriously wounding at least seven of them.

Two Jaffna journalists who were covering the rally were also attacked, while four students were taken into to military custody during the clash.

Academic sources of the Jaffna University told the JDS that the students were “engaged in a peaceful rally to protest the military raid on the ladies hostels on Heores’ Day when the police, military and state intelligence officials unleashed their terror campaign opposite the University entrance”.

“The soldiers involved in the hostel raid on Tuesday were intimidating our students and at lease two female hostel inmates were threatened at gun-point not to commemorate the Heroes’ Day. That’s why our students organised this peaceful protest to condemn their act of terror,” he told JDS over the phone from the University complex.

'A retaliation for remembering'

“The soldiers were angry that students have somehow commemorated their heroes and lit the commemoration lamp despite many threats and intimidation. Today’s attack was nothing but a violent retaliation on the students for remembering their own sisters and brothers. This simply shows that we don’t have freedom even to cry silently in the North-East,” he said on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Editor of the Jaffna Uthayan newspaper J. Premananth and Jaffna district MP E. Saravanabavan were attacked by the military intelligence personnel on Tuesday while covering the military raid on the university hostels on Tuesday. Speaking to press in Jaffna he confirmed that they were attacked by military intelligence personnel.

Photo courtesy: Tamil Net