The Jaffna University Teachers Association (JUTA) has strongly condemned the brutal attack by the Sri Lankan Police during a peaceful protest organized by their students protesting against the Independence Day of Sri Lanka.
Tamil lawmakers, students, and members of the civil society were severely attacked by the police when they went on a peaceful rally in Killinochchi on the 4th of February.
In a statement released on Monday (5) the JUTA on the “Police Violence against Students and Protestors” in Killinochchi on the 4th of February they have said the undergraduates of the University of Jaffna, in alliance with civil society groups based in the North, organized a peaceful protest in Killinochchi.
“These protests highlighted the ongoing acts of injustice and violations by the state and the Sinhala-Buddhisization of the North and East of the country and demanded a political solution to the national question”.
Their statement also expressed deep concern about the violence unleashed by the Police against their students.
“The students who participated in the protests were attacked brutally by the police with water cannons and tear gas. The police were seen dragging the students by their arms, pushing them around, and forcing them onto the ground. Several students who took part in the protest were arrested”.
JUTA while strongly condemning the police attempt to suppress the protest using brutal force said there is no freedom for the Tamils.
“Yesterday’s violence demonstrates that there is no freedom for the Tamils in Sri Lanka to assemble peacefully and fight for their rights in a democratic manner even on the Independence Day of the country”.
The statement by JUTA also highlighted the social and political plight of the Tamils for decades.
“The Tamils in Sri Lanka have been fighting for their political rights and resisting state oppression through non-violent means since the end of the thirty-year-long armed struggle in 2009. There have been protests led by Tamils in the North-East of the country against land grabs, militarization, and Sinhala-Buddhistisation. Some of these protests made a call for the release of the political prisoners and justice for those who were made to disappear. Instead of addressing these issues in a democratic manner, the state often unleashed majoritarian violence on the protesting Tamils”.
The current Sri Lankan regime tries to ensure its survival by suppressing protests. It uses draconian laws and violence to curtail, stifle, and take away people’s rights to free speech, assembly and protest. The attacks on the peaceful student protesters on the 76th Independence Day is a manifestation of these authoritarian methods of governance and Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism their statement further said.
JUTA has called upon all to speak against the violence perpetuated by the Police against their students while protesting on Independence Day.
“The University of Jaffna Teachers’ Association emphasizes that the people of this country across ethnic, religious, linguistic, and regional boundaries should speak up against the violence unleashed on Independence Day which undermined the very idea of ‘independence’ and turned it into a farce. It is only by finding just and lasting solutions to the ethnic conflict and the economic crisis that the government can win the trust and confidence of the people”.
They have also warned the government’s repressive laws won’t be able to contain the uprising by the students and that only by upholding democratic traditions the country could move forward.
“ The government will never be able to contain the resistance it faces today by introducing repressive laws or resorting to violence. At a time when we are faced with a serious crisis, it is important that we come together to protect the democratic spaces available to us today. The Association believes firmly that it is only by acting collectively and courageously in these spaces that we can strengthen democracy and defeat state oppression”.
Seven students of the Jaffna University were arrested by the Police in Killinochi who were forced to release them after Tamil MP’s Sivagnanam Siritharan and Charles Nirmalanathan staged a sit-in protest on the A-9 road and refused to budge till the arrested students were unconditionally released.
Finally, after more than three hours of protest the students were freed without charges.
