‘5000 arrested after Sri Lanka clashes’

Press, 1 September 1977, Page 8

‘5000 arrested after Sri Lanka clashes’

NZPA-Reuter Colombo More than 5000 people have been arrested as a result of communal clashes in Sri Lanka during the last two weeks, a Governmentowned newspaper has reported. The “Ceylon Observer” said the arrested included [many known criminals and 'people suspected of murder,

arson and looting, as well as, those held for curfew- ! breaking. About 100 people are reported to have been killed in the violence which began 16 days ago in the northern town of Jaffna. It wasj directed mainly against the' I country’s 2.5 million Tamil i minority. Informed sources said life on the island had virtually returned to normal. The coastal region of Puttalam, north of Colombo, was the only area where fresh violence was feared. The region was said to be

.still tense after clashes thr< 'nights ago. i A 12-hour night curfew habeen imposed on Puttalam and Jaffna. Across the rot of the country a six-hour /curfew was ordered tor the [eleventh successive night. ■I Official sources said tea Hand rubber production had resumed after disruptions > during the disturbances. ' Several thousand Tamil tea plantation and rubber • plantation workers who had , fled their homes in the cen- ! tral and south-central hill . districts at the height of the ■ violence, had now returned.