The people in the North on September 28, staged a hartal (general shutdown) in protest to the ban issued by the Northern Provincial courts banning the commemoration of a former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre Thileepan, reports Daily Mirror. Several political parties and civil society organisations in the North including Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had requested to close government establishments, schools and the private sector institutions as well. Accordingly, the shop owners in Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu, Vavuniya and Mannar put up shutters and closed businesses for the day.