Unruly scenes which enacted in Sri Lanka's parliament Friday morning forced the postponement of sessions until July 5, Speaker WJM Lokubandara said.

Lokubandara said he was suspended sitting at 10:20 am local time (0420 GMT) following noisy protests carrying black flags inside the chamber.

However, the government had presented the controversial joint deal with the Tamil Tigers for tsunami relief distribution by then.

When the Leader of the House Maithripala Sirisena presented the motion in parliament the JVP or the People's Liberation Front legislators got up in unison demanding to know if the deal had already been signed.

Sirisena said it will be revealed in due course. Then the JVP came running near his seat and started protesting.

The police used tear gas at a gathering of around 2,000 JVPers who were demonstrating at parliament against the move when they tried to rip through the police barricades in the morning.

The JVP on June 16 had walked out of the government of the Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga protesting over the deal, which they dubbed the mechanism as one which would confer legitimacy to a terrorist group.

Kumaratunga maintained that the deal was only an administrative mechanism to ensure equitable distribution of tsunami relief assistance to Tamil held regions in the north and east.

Kumaratunga also faced stiff opposition from the influential Buddhist clergy over the move.

Source: Xinhua