Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

Sirisena postpones Batticaloa event near site of Sinhala mob attack

The Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena has postponed his visit on Sunday to the opening ceremony of the a hotel in Pasikuda, Batticaloa, after the murder of a Tamil man near the hotel by a Sinhala mob, the Sunday Times reported.

Fifty-one year old Thambipillai Thangarasa was attacked in Kalkudah on Thursday as he was returning home from the grocery store. A group of Sinhalese men, reported to be under the influence of alcohol, attacked him after an argument broke out, leaving him with fatal head injuries.

According to the Sunday Times, a local police officer said the attack accord near the hotel where construction workers were holding a party to celebrate the completion of the hotel.

“There was an argument among the workers. A village fishermen tried to settle the dispute, but was beaten up and then stabbed with a bottle,” the officer reported added.

Mr Sirisena will continue to attend his other engagements in Batticaloa however.

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.