[8][9] A large group of policemen arrived in riot gear, wearing helmets and carrying batons and shields.

[8][9] Later, as Government Agent M. Srikantha and Superintendent of Police Richard Arndt tried to leave Old Park in a jeep the protesters blocked their way.

Kandiah was carried out and dumped on the ground, Dharmalingam and Thurairatnam were dragged out by their hands and legs whilst Amirthalingam and Naganathan were baton charged.

[10][11][12][13] On 21 May 1976 Thurairatnam was delivering leaflets along with other leading Tamil politicians (A. Amirthalingam, V. N. Navaratnam, K. P. Ratnam and M. Sivasithamparam) when they were all arrested on government orders.

[14] All the defendants were acquitted on 10 February 1977 after a famous trial at bar case in which around 70 leading Tamil lawyers, including S. J. V. Chelvanayakam and G. G. Ponnambalam, acted for the defence.

[18] Thurairatnam and all other TULF MPs boycotted Parliament from the middle of 1983 for a number of reasons: they were under pressure from Sri Lankan Tamil militants not to stay in Parliament beyond their normal six-year term; the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka required them to swear an oath unconditionally renouncing support for a separate state; and the 1983 Black July riots in which up to 3,000 Tamils were murdered by Sinhalese mobs.