Hundreds of protestors gathered in Mattala to protest after the town’s international airport was put in to use to store paddy earlier this week.
As many as 500 people came together in Hambantota, the home town of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, with whom the airport shares a name to protest for the second time this week.
The Mattala Rajapaksa International airport is currently only used by a single carrier, Fly Dubai, which operates one flight into the airport. Officials announced that from this week onwards, the airport would be put to use and paddy would be stored there.
Construction of the airport began in 2009 and was completed in 2013, under former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and was largely financed through Chinese state loans. Since its opening it has remained largely under utilised.
See our earlier post:
Hambantota international airport put to use (02 Sep 2015)
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
