TRADE UNIONISTS and members of socialist groups will be picketing the Sri Lankan High Court in Colombo today.
They are demanding the release of the hundreds of political prisoners who have been incarcerated by the Sri Lankan government in recent months.
The picket is being organised by the Campaign for Freedom of Political Prisoners, set up on the initiative of the United Workers Party (UWP).
Leaders of the railworkers’, plantation workers’ and health workers’ unions are expected to join the picket, alongside members of socialist parties, like the UWP, NSSP and USP.
There is a growing confrontation between the organised working class and the Sri Lankan regime, which is not only conducting a war against the Tamil people, but is engaged in repressive measures against the trade unions.
The teachers’ union has organised strikes recently and there is growing militancy within the largest union, the Commercial Workers Union, which organises government workers.