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Navy forcibly evicts resettled families in Mannar

At least 15 families were forcibly evicted from their homes overnight, just 2 weeks after being ‘resettled’ back in their native village.

According to Journalists for Democracy, 10-15 heavily armed Navy personnel marched into the Vetriman Housing Scheme, located between Pesalai and Thalaimannar in the Mannar district, late Friday evening and demanded the villagers vacate their homes before midnight.

The families, including those with children and the elderly, were then left at night to seek shelter at the Catholic Church in Pesalai almost 5km away.

The Vetriman Housing Scheme was funded by the Catholic Church's Jesus Refugee Service, with the 15 evicted families having been resettled there just 2 weeks ago, after years of being displaced.

The incident comes as Tamil political parties have announced that a protest against land grabbing by the military will be staged on the 26th of June at Murikandy.

See the report from JDS here.

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