SL students clash over commemoration of ethnic Tamil rebels

Colombo: A lawmaker and a journalist say at least seven Sri Lankan students have been injured in clashes with security forces over a commemoration of ethnic Tamil rebels who were defeated in the country’s civil war.

A Tamil lawmaker, E Saravanapavan, says army troops and police clashed on Wednesday with students who were protesting a search of their university a day earlier by authorities in the northern district of Jaffna, a former war zone which is the cultural heartland of minority Tamils. Police denied any injuries.

A local journalist said troops and police searched the university for pro-rebel propaganda on Tuesday after students reportedly tried to honour the rebels who died in the war.

The rebels, who were defeated in 2009, commemorated fallen comrades on 27 November, a day after their leader’s birthday.

AP