Sri Lankan military have been telephoning traders in Mullaitivu and threatening them to open their outlets today as the Tamil nation observes Maaveerar Naal.
Armed personnel have stepped up their presence across the district to block any commemoration activites from taking place.
Fearing reprisal from the state forces, some traders have opened their shops and continued business as usual.
In the lead up to Maaveerar Naal, Sri Lanka's security forces intensified their presence with a series of road block style checkpoints.
The army have continued to clamp down on commemoration activites despite the Mullaitivu magistrate’s court revoking its ban on Maaveerar Naal and injunctions placed on dozens of Tamil politicians and civil society members. The court stated that the need to remember the dead was a fact of human nature.
On Thursday, the Magistrate T. Saravanabavan amended the court’s earlier judgement which had granted Mullaitivu police’s applications for bans on commemorations, and 72 individual injunctions against politicians, activists and community leaders.
Highlighting that representations of the leadership or insignia of banned organisations should not be used, the judge said that remembrance of the dead could be carried out regardless of their identity.
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