Mass demonstrations in Jaffna as anger over rape and murder of Vidya reaches boiling point (Photos)

Hundreds of students  poured onto the streets in Jaffna peninsula  in protest against the violent gang rape and murder of Pungudutheevu student Vidya last week.

Shops were closed and Black flags were hoisted. The protesters demanded that the culprits be brought to book swiftly.

Some protesters , many of them young men, gathered outside key buildings in Jaffna and burnt tyres on the roads.

The protesters chanted, and many held up banners calling for strict preventive mechanism against sexual violence and maximum punishment for rapists.

The number of arrested for the schoolgirl’s Gang rape and murder rose to 9 following fresh arrests yesterday.

Another person who had come from abroad believed to be involved in the rape and murder of Vidya is said to be arrested by the police today.

On hearing that police is to take the suspect to Colombo, angered people in Pungudutheevu  kept vigil and demanded the police hand over the suspect to them. Tension prevailed in the Island sector.