A hartal and a fast unto death brought life to a standstill in Trincomalee yesterday.
The protest was mounted to demand the release of two home guards, abducted and kept by the LTTE’s Wanni faction..
Shops were closed and vehicular transport was halted. The city was deserted except for the 25 participants in the fast. They sat opposite the clock tower in the centre of the city with their supporters.
Another group of 200 persons mounted a separate satyagraha at the Fourth Mile post on the Trinco-Kantale road.
The sit in fast, staged by the relatives of home guards a week ago, developed into a fast unto death yesterday over the LTTE’s delay in releasing them.
Additional police security was provided to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Trincomalee.
The protest was supported by the North East Sinhala Organisation.
Two home guards, D. Sarath Bandara and Chandana Piyasiri were abducted by the LTTE on August 10 at Konabendiwea, Gomarankadawala. The LTTE later demanded the government to release ten of their cadres for the release of the two home guards.
However, the Defence Secretary Cyril Herath on Monday turned down LTTE’s demand for a prisoner swap saying that he had not received such a request from the LTTE, sources said.
Spokesman for the North East Sinhala Organisation, Sunil Aluthgamage said that they would mobilise more civilians to get the two home guards released from the ‘tiger claws’.
DIG Eastern Range, Neville Wijesinghe said that additional policemen had been deployed in the city in view of any emergency and to provide security to public property.
SSP Upali Hewage said that police has received information that large number of people were on the walk from Gamrankadawala and Bakmeewewa areas to join the fast unto death campaign in the center of the city
