18 February, 2005 - Published 18:01 GMT

Fishermen protest against LTTE

Fishermen in Mannar on Friday protested against Tamil Tigers accusing them of shooting one of their boats and abducting 11 more.

Sri Lankan security forces intervened to prevent the fishermen from setting fire to the LTTE office in Talaimannar.

Fishermen brought the boat shot by the LTTE to Mannar town and shouted slogans, journalist Dinasena Ratugamage told BBC Sandeshaya.

Rejecting the accusations, LTTE office in Mannar said they only warned the fishermen not to continue with fishing using dynamites.

Kaushalyan murder

However, fishermen say the LTTE is harassing them because they did not join protests and hartal against the murder of Batticaloa- Ampara political wing leader Kaushalyan.

Kaushalyan was shot dead on 07 February by the unidentified gunmen in the government-controlled areas.

Mannar Bishop Rajappu Joseph has requested the security forces not to intervene.

The Bishop has promised to control the situation by negotiating with all the parties involved.

Mannar has been calm in the evening after the protests, police said.

Journalist harassed

Meanwhile, Provincial journalist Mangalanath Liyanarachchi says that he was detained for over three hours by LTTE carders and released after deleting his digital photographs.

Liyanarachchi who reports to the Lakbima newspaper from Trincomaleee said that he entered the rebel held territory with the permission of the LTTE leadership to cover the discussions of LTTE political leader S.P Thamilselvan and Muslim civilians.

Explaining what happened he said “as I was observing the discussions of Thamilselvan and the villagers a LTTE carder approached me saying that he has some information to be published and request me to accompany him. I was taken to a LTTE camp and later questioned.”

Liyanarachchi is a former soldier of the medical services unit of the Sri Lanka army.