Maruthankerny police questioned two Tamil women organising the Maaveerar Naal (Great Heroes' Day) commemoration at Uduthurai Thuyilum Illam in Jaffna and have imposed restrictions on the event.
Speaking to reporters, the two organisers stated that Maruthankerny police called them yesterday ordering them to come to the station for questioning.
The police told the organisers that they can not light lamps in front of photographs of fallen Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres, they can not use the karthigai flower (a traditional flower of remembrance) in any form and they can not play Maaveerar songs. Instead, they will have to play cinema songs at the commemoration event.
The police warned the organisers that if they are to breach these conditions, further legal action will be taken against them.
Maaveerar Naal is observed by the Tamil nation annually on November 27, In the North-East, Sri Lanka's security forces routinely clamp down on memorialisation events. Since the end of the armed conflict in 2009, successive Sri Lankan governments have sought to control the Tamil community's ability to publicly commemorate their war dead.
Sri Lanka's security forces have destroyed memorial sites, banned symbolic flowers and flags and sought court orders to ban commemorative events.