Sri Lankan police summoned six Tamil men who organised Maaveerar Naal at Mulliyawalai Thuyilum Illam last year.
Karaithuraippattu divisional council members Kamalanathan Vijinthan, Chinnarasa Lokeswaran, Thiruchelvam Ravindran, Thavarasa Amalan and social activists Gnanadas Prashan and Baskaran Vanajan recorded statements today at Mulliyawalai police station regarding an arch that was erected outside the Thuyilum Illam ahead of Maaveerar Naal.
The police questioned the six organisers over the arch which they claimed had imagery relating to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on them.
Speaking about the police questioning, one of the organisers said:
"We erected the arch the same way we did for Maaveerar Naal in 2019. When we were questioned by the Mulliyawalai police about this on November 26, we told them that we will paint over the imagery before 8am the following day. We covered the symbols with cloth but when we came back to the arch the following day, the cloths had been ripped off and the arch had been taken away."
"We are not trying to regroup the LTTE. We have been commemorating Maaveerar Naal for the past two years without breaking any laws," he added.
Maaveerar Naal was commemorated across the North-East despite intimidation and harrassment by Sri Lanka's security forces. In the lead up to Maaveerar Naal, the state's security forces photographed and videotaped those clearing the Thuyilum Illams for the commemorations events set to take place.