Protest by Muslims fizzle out

BY CHAMIKARA Weerasinghe

MUSLIMS in Akkaraipattu and Pottuvil staged a hartal yesterday in protest against their community's alleged exclusion from the P-TOMS agreement signed between the Government and the LTTE.

Military spokesman Brigadier R. M. Daya Ratnayake told the Daily News that the protestors blocked the highway between Akkaraipattu and Pottuvil disrupting traffic. "However there was no damage caused to public property by the protestors, and the situation returned to normal by evening," Brigadier Ratnayake said.

Banks and shops remained closed from morning in some Muslim towns, while the police and the STF were placed on full alert, he added. Apart from these two Muslim-dominated towns, no incidents were reported from other areas of the Eastern Province, he said.