A key Sinhala activist, who campaigned strongly to erect a Buddhist statue in the north-eastern port city of Trincomalee early this year, has been shot dead by unidentified men causing ethnic tension in the region, police said yesterday.
The activist identified as Anura Abeyratne, 24 — a driver of a three-wheeler taxi — was gunned down at Kannagipuram in Orr's Hill, a suburb of Trincomalee town yesterday afternoon.
Police said the group responsible for the killing was not known immediately, but they believe that it was connected with the campaign carried out by the activist who insisted that the Buddhist statue should be put up there.
Soon after the incident, police and soldiers rushed to the site to prevent any ethnic clashes breaking out. Arthur Tveiten, head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Trincomalee, also visited the site.
The police shifted the body to the mortuary of a Trincomalee base hospital where hundreds of supporters of the activist and taxi drivers had gathered.
Soldiers and police immediately cordoned off the area and began search operations while security in the town had been increased.
The activist along with other drivers early this year carried out a campaign against moves by a pro-Tamil Tiger group who wanted the statue removed.
The campaign led to clashes, protests and strikes in the area which lasted for more than six weeks.
The issue was subsequently taken up in courts and the courts ordered the removal of all unauthorised statues erected in the town.
The decision, if implemented, would have had other implications as a large number of Hindu statues had also been erected in the area.
