The Eelam Democratic Party (EPDP), for the second time in a week, yesterday placed a coffin of a slain cadre in front of the Norwegian Embassy, Colombo and charged the peace brokers with turning a blind eye to the LTTE’s killing spree.
The EPDP protesters carrying the coffin of Somasundaram Warnakulasingham, a top level EPDP member shot dead by the LTTE pistol group last Thursday, at Wellawatte, proceeded upto the Royal Norwegian Embassy at Ward Place, braving a drizzle and left the coffin blocking the entrance to the Embassy.
Last Monday, the EPDP carried the body of Thambithurai Sivakumaran to the Embassy accusing Norway of backing the Tigers. Sivakumaran, an EPDP supporter, had been gunned down by the LTTE on September 18 at Puttalam.
Warnakulasingham, a resident at Vihara Mawatha, Wellawatta was shot dead by two assailants who arrived on a motor bike when he was in his residence. His wife and a youth staying nearby were also injured in the shooting.
He had been a founder member of the EPDP and had been residing at Wellawatta for nearly five years. He was the tenth EPDP member gunned down by the LTTE within this month.
Demonstrators shouted slogans blaming Norway for the killings carried out by the LTTE.
They called upon the Ambassador to take action to stop the LTTE’s killing spree of those who defy their terrorism. They said that the coffin would not be removed from the Embassy entrance until they get an assurance that LTTE’s political assassinations stopped.
"An Embassy official promised and assured us that they would pressure the LTTE to halt indiscriminate killing," a spokesman for the EPDP said.
The LTTE has killed 137 EPDP men since the signing of Cease Fire Agreement in February 2002.
