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Message: <blockquote data-quote="akeel1" data-source="post: 574984" data-attributes="member: 34522">Sri Lankan court halts Tamil evictionFrom correspondents in Colombo, Sri Lanka June 08, 2007 SRI Lanka's Supreme Court today ordered an immediate halt to the eviction of minority ethnic Tamils from the capital, a day after hundreds were expelled at gunpoint.The Court issued the order following a complaint by a political activist group that yesterday's police operation was a violation of fundamental rights. "The court will hear the case on June 22, and in the meantime the police Inspector General was restrained from carrying out any eviction of Tamils," a court official said. Human rights activists have said the expulsions amounted to a "collective punishment" on the Tamil community. Sri Lanka's Defence Ministry has insisted the operation, in which hundreds were bussed out of the capital to the war-torn east and north, was necessary to prevent bomb attacks by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for separation from the Sinhalese-majority south of the island since 1972. Nine people were killed in and around Colombo, a city of 600,000 people, in two blasts last month. The rebel infiltrators were believed to have used cheap lodgings similar to those targeted in the police raids. This story is from our news.com.au network Source: AFP</blockquote>

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