Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka’s one day old President, is facing a barrage of censure for allowing the country’s security forces to carry out a brutal attack on peaceful protesters.
At least 50 protesters were injured in the attack which took place at around 1 am today near the president’s office at the Presidential Secretariat and the Gota Go Gama protest site in Galle Face. Among the injured were lawyers and journalists. The SAARC Journalists Forum said that one journalist had been threatened by the army and that a BBC Tamil journalist had been assaulted. It said that Nuwan Bopage, a lawyer, had been arrested.
The police media spokesman admitted that nine people with injuries have been admitted to hospital.
Several protesters who were arrested were due to be produced in court later today.
During a press conference held earlier in the day, a group of lawyers from the National Peoples Power political party said there had been about 1000 in the group of attackers who were dressed in air force and military style uniforms. They said they had been intoxicated.
An eyewitness explained how the attackers had been carrying poles in addition to automatic weapons.
In one video clip an air force officer points a gun at a woman and threatens her while she is trying to save her companion from getting beaten by them.
Reports have emerged how the military did not allow the injured to go out and how ambulances were blocked and not allowed to get to the injured. Activists sent out a SOS with a long list of medicines to be sent to the protest site.
The government has not said anything so far about the attack which has been condemned by human rights watchers and the diplomatic community in Sri Lanka in unison. Over the months they have stoically stood by the protests which have been non– violent. ‘We have made clear the importance of the right to peaceful protest’, said the British High Commissioner Sarah Hulton. ‘Very concerned about reports from the Galle Face protest site’.
Tweeting in the early hours of the morning itself, Canadian High Commissioner David McKinnon said he was hearing what is happening at the Galle Face protest site but was not sure why it is happening now. ‘It is crucial the authorities act with restraint and avoid violence ‘.
American Ambassador Julie Chung expressed deep concern about actions taken against protesters at Galle Face in the middle of the night. ‘We urge restraint bythe authorities and immediate access to medical attention for those injured’.
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka issued a statement ‘that the State should ensure such actions by the military or any action within the control of the State to violate the fundamental rights of the people will never occur in future.
Medical specialists, civil society activists and the clergy have also denounced the attack.
Protesters had already started handing over the strategic sites they had been occupying after storming and taking them over in the past weeks. The President’s House, the prime minister’s official residence Temple Trees and the prime minister’s office had already been handed over to the authorities. The protesters had declared publicly that they will be handing over the Presidential Secretariat at 2 pm today.
The Galle Face protest, which has been going on for more than 100 days, has become a global brand because of its peaceful nature. The protesters have demanded the resignation of key political leaders who they see as being corrupt. In the more than three months since the protests began the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, his brother and Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and another brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa who was President have been made to step down. Wickremesinghe who is seen as a Rajapaksa proxy, took over as Prime Minister in May this yearand there have been calls for his resignation since then. In the eyes of the people the new president does not have their mandate and by extension the legitimacy to be in parliament. He was able to enter parliament only on the national list having lost his parliamentary seat after polling poorly at the last general election.
After the deposing of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Wickremesinghe was sworn in as acting president and president in a storm of protests. Protesters have sensed his statements about the illegality of the occupation of buildings and carte blanche orders to the military to do ‘whatever is necessary to restore order’ as moves to clamp down hard on them. Wickremesinghe calls the protesters fascists.
Since Wickremesinghe took over, protests have seen a discernible descent into violence. A protest near the parliament on the day he was officially announced prime minister was baton charged by the military leaving 33 injured and several admitted to hospital for treatment. Ambulances that rushed to the scene were stoned and blocked from reaching the injured.
Today’s attack on Galle Face will destabilise Sri Lanka’s already fragile political climate even furtherand could scupper crucial bail out talks with the International Monetary Fund with which there has been some engagement in the past weeks. But it was just last week that the IMF called for socio political stability which would allow a resumption of the dialogue with it.
Meanwhile, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has called for an immediate inquiry into the attack and for disciplinary action to be taken against all who have been involved. It has asked for those who gave orders to be held accountable.
