University students protest outside Norway Embassy against alleged Tamil rebel attacks

Dozens of university students Wednesday protested outside the embassy of peace broker Norway in the Sri Lankan capital against a spate of attacks - including the killings of two school principals - allegedly by Tamil Tiger rebels.

About 250 students carrying banners and shouting slogans gathered outside the embassy, accusing Norway of being biased toward the guerrillas and not exerting enough pressure to halt rebel attacks, said R.S. Jayawardene, a student protester.

Norway has been playing a pivotal role in trying to end Sri Lanka's two-decade war between the government and Tamil rebels. The Scandinavian country brokered a cease-fire in February 2002. Subsequent peace talks however, broke down in April 2003 and efforts to resurrect negotiations have so far failed.

Scores of armed policemen wearing bulletproof vests and helmets stood guard outside the heavily barricaded embassy.

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels last week shot dead a high school principal who opposed the guerrillas, a day after assailants gunned down a school leader who supported the Tigers.

Jayawardene also accused the rebels of a spate of attacks on security forces, including an attack on Tuesday in the island's volatile east that left one policeman dead and another injured.

``Disarm the LTTE,'' ``The LTTE is killing school principals,'' read some of the banners against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Scores of people - Tamil Tigers, breakaway rebels, politicians opposing the rebels, and civilians - have been killed despite the cease-fire, and violence has escalated since a rebel group split away from the LTTE in March 2004.