Arachchikattuwa attack:

by Dasun Edirisinghe
JVP Propaganda Secretary MP Vijitha Herath yesterday said his party was waiting for the police to take action against the thugs who attacked JVP protestors last Monday at Arachchikattuwa. In the meantime, the party was collecting evidence against the attackers and the police with the intention of going before courts. He said however, if they are not satisfied with the police investigation, they will definitely file an FR case within a month.

Ten persons including a Wayamba Provincial Councillor were injured when a JVP protest against fuel price hikes in Arachchikattuwa came under an attack by thugs allegedly led by some ruling party politicians. JVP Member for Wayamba Provincial Council Sithara Nonis and five others were rushed to the Chilaw hospital following the attack. According to the JVP, a group of thugs armed with pistols and iron bars descended on the JVPers.

The following day, a group of senior JVP leaders including MP K. D. Lalkantha protesting against Sunday’s attack came under a burnt engine oil attack. The JVP blamed it on the government. The protesters were dispersing peacefully, when a group of unidentified persons riding in an open truck splashed burnt engine oil on the JVP activists.

Herath said they have the video tapes of the attack and the vehicle number of the tipper which was used to splash burnt oil on protestors. The police have already arrested the Chairman of the Arachchikattuwa Pradeshiya Sabha.

JVP Parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said this was orchestrated by the ruling party’s local politicians. They carried out both attacks before the very eyes of the police. And the police arrested the victims of the attack. This proves the whole thing was well organised, he said.


TMVP invited by President to join APRC deliberations; JHU, MEP set to rejoin talks‘To the best of my knowledge, the TMVP has been invited by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to join the APRC deliberations and they have consented to participate in the process’, APRC chairman and Science and Technology Minister, Prof. Tissa Vitarana said.
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A TMVP decision to join the talks would pave the way for the JHU and MEP to re-join the APRC, since it was the position of these two parties that the TMVP too participates in the APRC deliberations, if they are to re-enter the process. Over the past two months, the JHU and the MEP kept away from the talks over the question of the TMVP’s participation, the Minister explained. ‘As soon as the TMVP joins the talks the JHU and the MEP would also do so’, he said.

The APRC chief also said that the APRC has been meeting every week over the months, although it could not do so this week on account of some practical difficulties.