Followers of slain LTTE chief V Prabhakaran observe Great Heroes Day in Sri Lanka

Colombo: The followers of slain LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabakaran commemorated his 69th birthday as ‘Great Heroes Day’, Tamil media sources said on Monday.

Prabakaran used to make his annual policy speech on his birthday on November 26 during the days when LTTE ran a parallel state in parts of the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.

‘Maaveerar Naal’ or Great Heroes Day is observed on November 27 by sections of Sri Lankan Tamils regarded as being generally supportive of the Tigers. It is the day on which fallen members of the LTTE are commemorated.

At Jaffna University on Sunday, students celebrated the 69th birth anniversary of Prabakaran by cutting a cake.

Similarly, a group of Tamil provincial politicians cut a cake opposite the house of Prabakaran’s birth at Velvettithurai.

Oil lamps were lit at different places in the north and east despite authorities banning holding the celebrations.

The police were accused on Monday of storming a Heroes Day celebration held in the eastern district of Batticaloa.

Tamil groups said that armed with riot gear the police tore down red and yellow flags and pulled oil lamps out of the ground to disrupt the celebrations.

Police obtained court orders at some places banning the celebrations.

The LTTE had run a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Prabhakaran.