Sri Lanka war spills over, singes Chennai streets

Chennai: The war in Sri Lanka between the army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) is spilling over onto the streets of Chennai.
A day after Muthukumar, a protestor, set himself ablaze to protest the targeting of Lankan Tamils in the conflict, the city saw a spate of protests.
Traffic was blocked on several major roads in the city by protestors. Earlier in the day Chennai Police thwarted an attack on the Sri Lankan consulate.
Thirsty-six students of Salem Law College have been arrested in connection with the attack.
Members of the Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHCAA) also held protests, burning photographs of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The advocates stayed away from the courts demanding ceasefire and protection to Lankan Tamils.
On Thursday, the MHCAA held a similar protest and cases have been filed against 50 lawyers.
Speaking to CNN-IBN over the phone, President of the Madras High Court Bar Council Prabhakaran said, "Today the entire legal fraternity in the state will go on to boycott the court activity."
"We demand that the Central government of India gets (ensures) peace in Sri Lanka and then we will ask the UN Security council to intervene and keep the UN Peace Keeing Force and to set the issue right."
"We also demand that the Central governement of India, especially the External Affairrs Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee goes there (to Sri Lanka) and set the issue right."
"The ethnic cleansing issue is rather bad in Sri Lanka and every day 100 to 200 Tamil people are killed in Sri Lanka. So far we have gone on several agitations against the government and now we are sending a warning to Rajapakse," he added.
Asked if the "pillars of constitution" were setting a bad precedent, Prabhakaran said, "No, we are blocking the roads only five or 10 minutes at a time. We are protesting to show our sentiments and our solidarity with our Sri Lankan Tamil brethren."
However, he said burning of Sonia Gandhi's photos were unintentional. "That happens in the excitement in agitations but we are not against Sonia Gandhi or any other woman. We are non-political people and we demand that the government of India should intervene to ensure peace for Tamilians in Sri Lanka," he clarified.
Asked why they were supporting the LTTE, a banned terrorist organisation, Prabhakaran said, "We are not supporting the LTTE. We are fighting for the cause of the Sri Lankan Tamils. The Sri Lankan government is promising safe passage to Tamilians but that is a wrong picture, It is the Sri Lankan army that is shooting and the people are fleeing from them."
He warned that the state and Central government should sort out the issue soon or the protests would continue.
When contacted, Sri Lankan High Commissioner Romesh Jayasinghe said, "The government has made its position very clear. The coordinates of the safe zones have been made avaialble to the LTTE. It is up to the LTTE now to allow those civilians that they are holding move to that area."
"Commanders on the ground will ensure that the civilians moving towards these zones are not shot at," he added.
Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka President Rajapakse has announced a temporary ceasefire for 48 hours
But the LTTE, which is fighting a lossing battle in Mullaittivu, is yet to respond.