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Students attached to the Jaffna University filed a formal complaint at the Human Rights Commission (HRC) office in Jaffna over the conduct of Sri Lanka police during the Shivarathri observances at the Vedukkunaari Temple in Vavuniya.
The students who filed the complaint were also present on the day the prayers were held and offered their testimony to the incidents that transpired that evening.
The students informed the HRC that the police prevented devotees from worshipping for many hours by putting up roadblocks and checkpoints. They further stated the police acted inhumanely by preventing water bowsers from being parked near the vicinity of the temple. The bowser was parked nearly 5 km away and devotees had to walk that extent to obtain drinking water.
They also said that the police brutality and the use of force was evident through their actions. They raised concerns over the behaviour of police personnel when there were also women and children in the crowd.
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Eight individuals including the chief priest were manhandled, assaulted, and arrested when they were taking part in the Shivarathri observances at the temple earlier this month.
Sri Lankan police unleashed violence and raided the site, which Sinhala Buddhist nationalists have claimed as an ancient Buddhist area, in the Tamil homeland.
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