Jaffna student shot dead: end police impunity
By Keerthikan Thennavan
On Thursday 20 October, officers of the Sri Lanka police shot at Jaffna University students as they rode passed on their motorbike. Both of them were killed.
The Sri Lankan authorities tried to hide what happened, saying it was a road accident, but people heard the shots and saw the blood on the students’ bodies which confirmed that was untrue.
Students and wider sections of the population mobilised to demand justice and to protest against police oppression. Jaffna city came to a standstill and students blocked the key A9 road in both Jaffna and Killinochi. They called for action to be taken against the officers.
It was only the mass pressure of the protests as they spread to other parts of the north and east, and then into all parts of Sri Lanka involving political parties and workers’ trade union activists, which forced the authorities to admit that the police had killed the students.
Of course, they are still refusing to take responsibility for the deaths. Instead, they continue to blame the students themselves!
Solidarity protests took part around the world, including Tamil Nadu and London, where Tamil Solidarity helped to mobilise protesters outside the Sri Lanka High Commission.
We condemn the police action, and lay responsibility for the killing on the Sri Lankan state headed by Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe.
We demand:
The prosecution of the police officers involved in the killing of the two students
Police accountability to local people: end police and military impunity
Stop police and army raids on Jaffna University
End the militarisation of the north and east
End the land-grab
A programme to lift people out of poverty with good housing, health and education, and well-paid jobs
