posted August 14, 2001 01:53 AM            

Student activists from Northern California staged a protest at the front lawn of University of California, Berkeley campus yesterday morning showing support to Jaffna University students, demanding academic freedom to the staff and students of Jaffna University.

"We would like to show the world that University of Jaffna is closed and that there is no academic freedom," said a student leader from Sacramento who participated in the protest.

The Berkeley protesters demanded that,

- Jaffna University be opened immediately without any preconditions, and
- the arrested student leader, Thivyan Krishnaswamy be released immediately.

University of Berkeley students have openly supported oppressed students around the world, and have recently shown their support to Chinese students in Tianenmen Square and to protesting Indonesian students.