Sri Lankan security forces have stopped thousands of Tamils from joining a protest march in Colombo to demand justice for disappeared or detained relatives on Wednesday.
Protesters, who were travelling mainly from Vavuniya, had boarded buses in order to make the 210 km journey to Colombo when Sri Lankan police stopped the buses.
The Sri Lankan Military spokesperson, Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya, claimed that police stopped the buses in order to prevent possible calshes in Vavuniya. However, leader of the Democratic People's Front party, Mano Ganeshan, rejected this and said that security forces intimidated and threatened bus drivers to halt the journey. According to FirstPost, bus drivers and protesters were warned that if they travelled to Colombo, they and their families would 'face problems' when they returned to Vanni.