The journalists supported by human rights groups, trade unionist and civic organisations staged the protest outside the main railway station in Colombo at lunch time on Tuesday demanding that the government should ensure media freedom in the country.

The journalist accused the Sri Lankan government of trying to stifle media freedom through intimidation and harassment. The government imposed tough censorship on military related news last week, but two days later announced the withdrawal of the regulations following journalist organisations started protesting the regulations. Five local radio stations were banned by the government and their broadcast licence was cancelled in an attempt to silence them.

A spokesman for a media rights group known as the Free Media Movement, Sunanda Deshapriya, said that during the past two years the media has faced untold suppression including threats, coercion, bans, attacks, arson, abductions and killings. "Intimidation of journalists by the police on political pressure should be stopped and all unofficial restrictions and undeclared censorship on the media in Jaffna (northern Sri Lanka) should be immediately lifted" he said.

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