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A Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organized mob of nearly 1000 Tamil school children and 300 adult supporters attacked damaging police vehicles and the bunkers, fences and canteen (the cafeteria) of the Valachchenai Police station. This is the second time the LTTE used school children to attack a security installations in the North and the East. Police sources in Valaichchenai said that the LTTE mob was protesting against the newly opened Batticaloa- Polonnaruwa road running through the police premises being not kept open for 24-hours of the day. Independent reports said the mob instigated by the LTTE assembled at six in the morning at the Valachchenai junction and burnt roadblocks laid by the police. They later attacked the Valaichenai Police canteen and damaged furniture in it. The mob also attacked a Police a jeep and a truck with a water-transporting tank, eyewitnesses said. This is the second time the LTTE used school children after using the students of Hartley College in Jaffna to attack a Sri Lanka security installation very successfully. They later allegedly kidnapped the Principal of the Hartley College for non-cooperation, assaulted him severely and left him injured in a cemetery as a warning to other principals in the North and the East. The state owned Daily news said “Traffic on the Colombo - Batticaloa road was temporarily disrupted yesterday morning (October 1) due to the protest campaign.” It further reported, “The protestors also obstructed train services on the Batticaloa Line by placing sleepers and coconut stumps on the track a few yards away from the Valachchenai railway station. “ They had detained the Station Master and railway workers who had tried to remove logs to clear the rail track. However, they had been released later, the SSP added.” Immediately after the attack Senior Superintendent of Police of Police Lasantha de Silva , Colonel Jayatileke of the Sri Lanka Army and Mahesh Kantha of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam met at a conference an agreed to keep the Batticaloa Polonnaruwa road running through the police premises for two extra hours daily. The security report issued by the Sri Lanka Army did not come out with its usual true detail of the incident and avoided using the name LTTE at the behest of the Ministry of Defense. The Police started to keep the road open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. after it was opened after a closure for ten long years. The security report said hereafter it would be opened from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. But other reports said it would be opened from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. effective October 1. The Daily News also reported different times as future opening schedules. The state controlled Daily News although reported the incident avoided stating the LTTE ,which is carrying on an uneasy peace with the Ranil Wickremesinghe government, was instrumental in damaging the police property. The LTTE has decided to open up Eelam Police stations in the Eastern Province very soon challenging Sri Lanka and running a parallel government in the area. They have been attempting to create several incidents to bring down the image of the Sri Lanka Police in the Easter Province and had warned people not to visit Sri Lanka Police Stations to lodge complaints earlier. Valachchenai is about 29 kilometers North West of Batticaloa and was in the center of the LTTE-Muslim ethnic clashes that occurred recently in the Eastern Province. (EOM) (02/10/02 go2lanka.com) |