COLOMBO: Civil society bodies and human rights activists in Sri Lanka have strongly condemned the ongoing attacks including violence, false labeling and legal reprisals against unarmed peaceful protesters by the Sri Lankan government.
In a statement released on Friday July 28, the signatories to the statement have called for an immediate end to reprisals against those exercising their constitutionally protected rights to advocate for change.
“ We are extremely concerned by disturbing developments of abduction, arrest, intimidation, and reprisals against protesters that have been ongoing and increased over the past several days. On 25th July, media reported that Colombo Magistrate Court had issued a travel ban on Fr. Jeevantha and several other prominent human rights defenders involved in the protests and on 27th July, a church was visited by local police, who had told the priest resident there that they had received orders from Colombo to arrest Fr. Jeevantha.
On 26th July, a person involved in protests at the Galle Face was arrested from a flight that was about to leave from the Bandaranaike International Airport, after he had legally cleared immigration. Uniformed police officers and reasons for arrest was only given after protest by fellow passengers.
On 27th July, Veranga Pushpika, an active protester at the Galle Face, a former student
activist and journalist, was abducted from a bus in broad daylight by men in civil. Police had later acknowledged his arrest, but not given clear indication of his whereabouts to lawyers and the Human Rights Commission for several hours. Also on 27th July, four protesters who had handed over to the police large amounts of money found at the President’s House on 9th July were also arrested. Police had tried to obstruct lawyers frommeeting these arrested persons. The same day (27 July) persons in civil claiming to be policemen had visited office of “Xposure News”, demanded the security guard to identify persons in photos and to see CCTV footage and monitored the entrance for around one hour. Xposure News had provided extensive coverage of the raid on Galle Face protest site and violence in nearby places and one of their journalists was amongst the journalists attacked in the early hours of 22nd July. Also on 27th July, a complaint had been made by the Young Journalists Association to the Human Rights Commission about imminent arrest of investigative journalist and human rights defender Tharindu Uduweragedera, who was summoned for questioning by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) few weeks back.
The protests, on-going since around March 2021, as a result of the economic crisis are due to increasing public realization that the causes of the severe economic crisis leading to shortages of basic essentials including fuel, power, food and medicines are inextricable linked to government mismanagement and corruption. Hence, the protests, which have largely been peaceful, demand accountability and a change in the system of governance.
The state response has been disproportionate use of force, threats, intimidation and legal reprisals against protesters and those believed to be leading or organizing the protests. The call for accountability and redress by victims and activists, and the corresponding state repression are not new to Sri Lanka – for years, survivors and human rights activists especially in the North and East of the country have been seeking justice and redress have been subject to violent repression.
