Protests after military attack on forest conservation officials in Batticaloa

Tamil officials from the Forest Conservation department and local civil society in Batticaloa staged a protest after being attacked by two Sinhala military personnel.

Photographs: Tamil Guardian

Nagarajah Sureshkumar, an officer at the Forest Conservation department, said,

“We got a tip off that military is cutting down forest trees and transporting them illegally to third party. They were engaged in illegal hunting wild animals too. We told them that we are public servants and we were there to do our duty but they continued to beat us."
The protestors, on Wednesday, gathered outside the Kiran Divisional Secretariat and called for legal action to be initiated against those responsible for the attack. Protest

Mr Sureshkumar has lodged a complaint at the local police station informing that he is able to identify the military personnel that attacked his team. A response is yet to be received.