Demanding release of Mudalige and Siridhamma Thera Aragalaya activists flood Tangalle by train on symbolic protest

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana   

Aragalaya activists in large numbers from countrywide  locations travelled to Tangalle yesterday by train to stage a symbolic  protest against the unlawful detention of two IUSF leaders Wasantha  Mudalige and Galwewa Siridhamma Thera under the PTA.   

Scores of armed policemen were summoned to the Tangalle  Town when the area started flooding with activists arriving at the  Beliatta Railway Station by yesterday noon.   
Several leading groups of the Galle Face Aragalaya  including the Inter University Students’ Federation led several hundred  activists that started the train journey from Anuradhapura yesterday  early morning.   

The entourage was joined by more activists in numbers from  the Fort Railway Station that altogether travelled to Beliatta Railway  Station. Banners and flags imprinted with various slogans demanding the  release of the two IUSF leaders were seen tied to the sides of the  train.   

The procession of activists, which set off from the  Beliatta Railway Station bound for the Tangalle Prison, could not proceed  beyond Puwakdandawa area, where the police blocked the way forward.   

The procession then travelled to Tangalle Town and staged a  demonstration  demanding the release of Mudalige and Siridhamma  Thera, who are being detained for more than two months now.   

Youth For Change Convener Lahiru Weerasekara said that they  have travelled to Tangalle by train to stage a symbolic protest against  the unlawful detention of the two IUSF leaders. “If the government is  trying to further repress the Aragalaya then we will travel from village to spread the message to awaken the masses,” Weerasekara  said.     

• The procession of activists, which set off from the  Beliatta Railway Station bound for the Tangalle Prison, could not proceed  beyond Puwakdandawa area, where the police blocked the way forward