Hartal in Trinco again

The life in Trincomalee was severely disrupted yesterday due to a hartal backed by pro-LTTE groups demanding the removal of the Buddha Statue, the state of emergency and the withdrawal of army posts.

Government offices, shops, schools, banks and private institutions were seen closed, with public transport services coming to a halt after few hours of operation.

Shops belonging to the Sinhalese community which were kept open for a limited time also put their shutters up after few hours, as the entire town was deserted and no customers coming make their usual purchases.

The North East Industrial Exhibition -- "Nava Yuga Dekma" which was declared open on Tuesday by Governor Tyronne Fernando had to be suspended due to the hartal.

The police assisted by the three security services were mobilised across the town to tighten security. According to police sources the hartal was fairly peaceful and no were incidents reported.