The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has requested President Ranil Wickremasinghe to issue a public apology for the recent attacks on the protestors, lawyers and media personnel at the Galle Face green.
The CPA further requests the President to ensure an independent investigation into the circumstances of the attacks on citizens,
media and lawyers and hold perpetrators to account.
Issuing a statement, the CPA vehemently condemned the violent attack by the authorities on the protestors, lawyers and media personnel at the Galle Face green soon after midnight on the 21st of July 2022.
The CPA noted that the attacks are all the more heinous as they came just hours after protestors had publicly expressed their desire to leave the premises of the Presidential Secretariat and to allow the new President time to prove himself.
These senseless attacks by security forces have undermined peace and security and have further escalated tensions in Sri Lanka. This attack comes less than twenty-four hours after Ranil Wickremesinghe took oath as President and when Sri Lanka is facing multiple crises. As President and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Mr Wickremesinghe must take responsibility for these actions, initiate immediate investigations and hold perpetrators linked with violence to account. Inability or unwillingness to take swift action in this regard will further exacerbate the crisis, entrench impunity and further erode the trust people have in government and governance in Sri Lanka, the CPA stated.
The CPA reiterated that the multiple crises cannot be resolved by a single political party or by having recourse to the powers of the Executive Presidency. The functions associated with the Executive Presidency have shown themselves to be a driver of instability and conflict in Sri Lanka over the past four decades. As such, CPA calls for a multi-party government aimed at abolishing the Executive Presidency and setting the economic circumstances that allow immediate Parliamentary elections.
