Relatives of missing hold up pictures (Pictures: TamilNet)

Relatives of people that had disappeared during and after the war in Vanni staged a protest in Jaffna on Human Rights Day on Friday.

Hundreds of soldiers and policemen across the peninsula harassed civilians in an attempt to intimidate and block the protest from going ahead, TamilNet reported.

The protest is the latest sign of simmering anger and injustice felt by Tamils in the North-East.

However, the growing defiance and peaceful protests staged by the Tamil people, continue to be repressed by the Sri Lankan government and ignored by the Sinhala press.

The organisers, the Civil Monitoring Committee from Colombo, were blocked by Sri Lankan security forces from attending the protest.

The police attempted to disperse the protestors, saying no permission had been obtained, but intervention from the former MP S. Kajendran of the TNPF and TNA MPs Mavai Senathiraja and Vinayagamoorthy forced the police to abort their attempts.

The protesters held up pictures of their missing relatives in emotional scenes, while security forces looked on.

Several of the protesters reported that they had witnessed their children or relatives, reach the army controlled territory in 2009, but have not had any information of their whereabouts since.

Parents of people abducted from the internment camps and of persons abducted after their release from detention were also present.

One of the main demands of the parents was the publication of all names of those still in detention.

Although it has been over 36 months since the end of the military conflict, the government of Sri Lanka has not released any lists with the names of those still incarcerated in camps and prisons across the island.