Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekara has likened the teachers’ strike to a terrorist act and a teachers union leader has received death threats.
The death threats have been made to the Eastern Provincial Coordinator of the Ceylon Teachers Union and the Batticaloa District Secretary Ponnathurai Wijayaruupan.
He has lodged a complaint with the Batticaloa Police regarding the death threats made against him through social media.
The Eastern Provincial Trade Union Leader of the Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) stated while conducting a press conference on September 22 that the threats were made by Facebook friends in memory of Vanniyasingham, a trade union leader who was killed during the Indian peacekeeping operation in the Batticaloa district in 1989.
Mr. Wijayarupan says that a photo of Sivaneshan Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the leader of the Tamil Makkal Vidudalai Pulihal party, a partner of the government, is being displayed in this social media group called ‘Facebook Friends’.
Mr. Ponnathurai Wijayarupan also stated that photocopies of certain documents in his personal file under the Ministry of Education will be shared on social media.
