Fresh protests in Tamil Nadu against Sri Lankan pilgrims

Close to 178 Sri Lanka tourists in Tamil Nadu bore the brunt of a fresh round of protests in Tamil Nadu today, when a pro-LTTE group intercepted the seven buses they were travelling in. The pilgrims, who had planned to head out of the country on Tuesday, were returning to Nagapattinam after offering prayers at Velankanni. In another incident, a group of Sri Lankan tourists were accosted by another Tamil group who waved black flags at them while they were on their way to the Trichy airport. [caption id=“attachment_443386” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Screen-grab from CNN-IBN.[/caption] The incident comes on the heels of the Sri Lankan government’s announcement that all tourists should try and refrain from travelling to Tamil Nadu. A IBN Live report quotes the advisory as saying, “Most recently today, 184 pilgrims visiting the Poornimatha Church in Thanjavur have been mobbed and become refuge in the church.”