Rallies islandwide

By Uditha Kumarasinghe

The UNP, JVP and Joint Opposition will hold May Day rallies in Colombo while the SLFP will hold its rally in Galle.

The UNP rally will be at Campbell Park, Borella at 2.00pm under the patronage of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The procession will start from Maradana at 11.00 a.m.

The SLFP's rally will be held at Samanala Grounds, Galle at 2.00 pm under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena. The procession will commence from Mahamodara and opposite the Galle Navy headquarters at 1.00pm. The Joint Opposition rally will beat the Lalith Athulathmudali Grounds, Kirulapone at 3.00 pm under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The procession will commence opposite Shalika Grounds at 1.00 pm.

The JVP rally will be at the B.R.C. Grounds at 4.00 pm. Trade Union Wing Leader K.D. Lalkantha and JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake will lead the rally. The procession will commence from the S. de S. Jayasinghe Grounds, Dehiwala at 12 noon. General Secretary of the World Federation of Trade Unions George Mavrikos and other foreign representatives are expected to attend the rally.All constituent parties which contested the last General Election under the UPFA's betel leaf symbol will attend the Kirulapone rally.

SLFP Ministers in the government said leaders of over 10 political parties, including the EPDP, CWC, DPF, MNC, DUNF, NSU, the Labour Party, Liberal Party and the Eksath Lanka Podujana Pakshaya will participate in the Galle rally.

Some political parties not in the UPFA coalition have also confirmed participation in it. The CWC rally will be held in Nuwara Eliya under Party General Secretary Arumugan Thondaman and a representative would attend the Galle rally. The Democratic Party will hold its rally at the G.H. Buddhadasa Grounds, Pelawatte at 3.00pm under the patronSome Tamil political parties have organised separate May Day (ITAK) ITAK will hold its rally at Maradanamadam, Jaffna while the EPRLF and TELO would join a rally organised by the Northern Province Co-operative Union in Kilinochchi in collaboration with some other parties.