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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ryanf" data-source="post: 2989323" data-attributes="member: 71649">COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Thousands of ethnic Tamil civilians lined up at schools and Hindu temples in Sri Lanka's capital Sunday to comply with a police order requiring all who moved to Colombo from the island's north to reregister with the police.Migrants from the north — which has been wracked by civil war for more than 25 years — have long had to register with police when they move to Colombo. But last week, police said that they needed to update their records to ensure security in the capital and that all who made the move in the past five years must register again.Police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekera said Thursday that the order would affect more than 100,000 people. The overwhelming majority of those people are ethnic Tamils. Some complained that Sunday's forced registration was unfair and unlawful."This is very wrong in a democratic country. We already have our registrations with the police so why should we do it again?" R. Gajendran told The Associated Press at his home in a predominantly Tamil neighborhood of the city. The unemployed 28-year-old said he fled to Colombo to escape violence in his native Jaffna.Authorities have not said what will happen to those who are unable or refuse to reregister Sunday.Rifle-toting police kept watch as entire families, including infants and the elderly, crowded the registration centers."The government is drawing here a distinction between us and the rest of the citizens. We are Sri Lankans too," Paramanathan Thileepan, a 23-year-old Tamil who works as an accounts clerk, said after registering at a center set up at a school in the same neighborhood."Our background was thoroughly checked in Jaffna before being cleared to come to Colombo," he said.Colombo-based Tamils complain of frequent police raids, harassment and arbitrary detentions. Authorities try to justify the measures by saying rebel agents could be hiding among the Tamil community.Tamil lawmaker Ramiah Yogarajan called the registration a "harassment of the peace-loving" and said some Tamils feared they would be banished back to the north after they reregister.More than 300 Tamils were forcibly evicted from Colombo last year but were returned to the capital a day later on a court order.Yogarajan accused police of violating a court order that prohibits summoning people for registration.Police spokesman Gunasekara insisted the reregistration was legal and peaceful."We have the sanction from the attorney general," Gunasekara said. "I visited some of the centers and the people are very happy."Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils after a history of maginalization by successive governments controlled by majority ethnic Sinhalese.More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.</blockquote>

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