Forum for Life says their activists were assaulted by UNP supporters

Dharshana Ariyawansa, a convenor of Forum for Life (FfL) told BBC Sandeshaya that a group of United National Party (UNP) supporters assaulted FfL activists in Colombo on Thursday.

The FfL activists have distributed pro-peace leaflets among those attended a anti-government rally organised by the UNP and the Sri Lanka Free Party (Mahajana wing).

Black July

"Even the women were assaulted and their clothes torn off," Ariyawansa told bbcsinhala.com.

The attackers were wearing green clothes, the colour of the UNP, according to the FfL.

While attacking us, some told us said it was them who assaulted Tamils in 1983 Forum for Life

In the leaflets, the 1983 Black July progrom in which hiundreds of Tamils were killed and thousands more displaced was described as the worst ever black mark in Sri Lanka's history.

"While attacking us, some told us said it was them who assaulted Tamils in 1983," Dharshana Ariyawansa said.

The UNP-led government of 1983 was accused of not taking action to stop mobs who attacked Tamils in the island.

The incident led to Tamil youths to intensify their uprising against Sinhala-majority government. Thousands of Tamils migrated to western countries where they sought political asylum.