TNPF parliamentarian Selvarajah Kajendran, was present as a volunteer at the site.
The Sri Lankan government deployed a substantial number of police and army officers to the site of Vannivilankulam Thuyillum illam in Mullaitivu on Monday, as cleaning and preparation activities were being carried out by volunteers ahead of Maaveerar Naal.
Local volunteers and politicians that were present at the site reported that they were obstructed from preparing the site for Maaveerar Naal and also interrogated by multiple Sri Lankan police and army officers.
Despite adhering to COVID-19 guidelines, the Sri Lankan police and army officers were described as interrogating the civilians and surveilling their activities by filming their actions on their mobile phones.
Selvarajah Kajendran, MP and General Secretary of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), was among those who volunteered to prepare the site ahead of the commemoration.
Similar acts of intimidation by the army have been recorded across the North-East as Sri Lanka attempts to deprive Tamil voices of their right to memory.
