Clashes between Tamil civilians and Navy personnel took place after a member of Sri Lanka’s Navy was caught trespassing a home in Mannar.
The clash happened after families in Arippu, Manner noticed a rise in theft and decided to set up a neighbourhood watch system to tackle the issue. The trespassing member of Sri Lanka’s Navy was captured by local villagers and held until the early hours of Wednesday morning, causing other Navy personnel to fire warning shots demanding the release of the captured soldier.
One villager told reporters,
“In the past few days, there were many incidents of theft taking place in our village. So we decided to be vigilant. At 9.30pm a person tried to trespass into a house in our village and the residents of the house screamed on seeing his entry. We captured him. After we captured him the Navy personnel attempted to rescue him, which we resisted. Following this scuffle the navy resorted to firing warning shots towards the sky continuously.”
Following the gunshots, local police arrived at the scene and demanded that the villagers hand over the captured navy personnel. Several villagers refused to hand over the trespasser demanding that they hand him over directly to the Mannar judge themselves.
The Navy soldier was eventually released by the local villagers and has not been arrested.
Members of the Northern Provincial Council and local MPs visited the site of conflict to speak to the local villagers.