Sri Lanka police apply for Maaveerar Naal ban in Koppay

A Jaffna police department have applied for a ban on commemorations of Maaveerar Naal, the Tamil national remembrance day for fallen LTTE fighters on November 27.

Koppay police applied for the ban under section 120 of the penal code - inciting or seeking to incite hate - and Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) regulations.

Maaveerar Naal commemorations were planned to take place on a property belonging to an individual named Sritharan, opposite the Koppay 512 brigade camp, police told the court.

The camp is built over the original Koppay Thuyilum Illam (LTTE cemetery).

While admitting that there were no specific respondents or suspects in the petition, police said the commemoration of LTTE cadres should be prohibited, as the LTTE is a banned organisation under the PTA.

The Jaffna magistrate judge Sinnathurai Satheestharan said the application would be decided on Friday, November 23. A fake notice proclaiming that the court had banned commemorations was circulated to Tamil media by unknown persons on Wednesday.

Last year, Sri Lankan army personnel and police intimidated Tamils attempting to clear the environs of the Koppay thuyilum illam and blocked public access roads.

Commemorations took place however as planned outside the camp, as close to the thuyilum illam as civilians could go, despite military surveillance and intimidation.

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