Sri Lankan Tamil refugees lodged in the Chengalpet Special Camp went on an indefinite hunger stir on Wednesday, protesting against the action of the Kancheepuram Police who razed the Heroes’ Day memorial on the premises.

While 38 inmates of the camp are Lankan refugees, the rest 10 are nationals of other countries.

Heroes’ Day is being observed in Tamil Nadu for over two decades, during which the Lankan refugees remember their kith and kin who died during the Eelam war.

Like in the previous years, the refugees had organised an in-house event and set up a memorial inside the camp and had decorated it with yellow and red flags. They had also arranged for lamps and wreaths to be placed on the memorial to further decorate the edifice on Wednesday evening.

According to sources, the police barged into the camp on Tuesday around 6 pm and declared that the structure was illegal and had to be demolished.

The refugees objected saying they had been observing Heroes Day every year with this memorial without causing any disturbance.

However, without paying heed to their requests, the police brought a crowbar with which they began demolishing the memorial, and brought it down completely.

Two rounds of talks were held with the refugees by the district administration and the police to convince them to drop their indefinite stir, on Tuesday midnight and on Wednesday noon. However, it failed.

The police top brass claimed that the structure was erected in memory of the slain LTTE cadre in the war, which may have different ramifications including celebration of the LTTE. “The memorial had been misleading. So we have brought it down,” an official said.

The refugees went ahead with their stir demanding basic amenities including newspaper and transport. – Express News Service