Peninsula goes into raptures!

Tamil civilians who went into raptures with the news of recent liberation of Pooneryn by the Sri Lanka Army held a grand street celebration.

About 10,000 civilians marched along the streets of Jaffna town for about 3 hours in a jubilant mood, shouting patriotic slogans, displaying banners, placards and waving national flags.

According to our special correspondent in Jaffna, a large group of civilians had gathered at Gurunagar around 9 a.m. for the celebrations.

The civilians then wended their way along the streets of Jaffna while thousands of others took to the streets joining them. Later, some 10,000 civilians were seen parading the streets of Jaffna, sources said.

The crowd returned to Gurunagar around 12 noon and dismissed after expressing their gratitude to the members of the Security Forces for opening the land route to Jaffna peninsula after a laps of 20 years.

The sources said members of the Jaffna Traders' Association, Fisheries and Fishermen's Association, Co-operative Movement Association, Samurdhi recipients, private bus operators and members of trade unions were the main organisers of the mammoth demonstration.

On Tuesday several hundreds of young men, including three-wheeler drivers in Jaffna danced in the streets for the same reason, three days after the fall of Pooneryn.