Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

Welikada prison riots ‘a massacre’

The UNP has said that the violence in Welikada prison ended with security forces committing a massacre.
Mangala Samaraweera of the party said that most of the dead were gunned down by police and the army.

"It's a massacre that has to be condemned. It shows the breakdown of the rule of law in the country," he said, according to Reuters.

"[The] information I have is that most of the prisoners were cold-bloodedly gunned down" he added.

Relatives of some of the victims told BBC Sinhala that after the first clashes died down, soldiers removed prisoners from their cells and shot them.

The secretary to the prison ministry has denied the allegations.

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.