UN envoy in SL defends right to hold peaceful demonstrations

Glocal
By Editor_1
A Buddhist monk being unceremoniously carried away by PPE-clad police officers, during a protest in the outskirts of Colombo on July 8. More than 40 people were arrested for staging protests in what authorities deemed were in violation of quarantine laws - Dineth Chamalka/ENCL
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COLOMBO – The United Nations envoy in Sri Lanka has defended the right to hold peaceful demonstrations, saying the right of assembly includes the right to hold peaceful demonstrations.

Hanaa Singer, the United Nations Resident Coordinator, tweeting her support for the democratic freedoms, also reminded the authorities that it was vital restrictions imposed as measures against the pandemic don’t go beyond the legitimate protection of public health.

-Twitter

“Right of assembly includes the right to hold peaceful demonstrations. It helps exercise other rights; freedom of expression & influence public policies. Vital that restrictions imposed as measures against the pandemic don’t go beyond the legitimate protection of #PublicHealth,” read the @SingerHanaa tweet, which follows strong reaction by professional and political bodies against police action that saw officers roughening up and detaining peaceful protestors on charges of violating quarantine laws, before forcing them into 14-days of quarantine.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), on Saturday (10), wrote to the Director-General of Health Services, Dr Asela Gunawardena, and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Chandana D. Wickramaratne, expressing grave concerns about the arrest and detention of protesters, ostensibly for violating health regulations relating to COVID.  It also raised concerns about the excessive force used by the police in dealing with the protestors.

The BASL urged the Director-General of Health Services to ensure health guidelines are not abused in a manner that has a chilling effect on the freedom to dissent and called upon the IGP to direct the police to refrain from arresting and detaining persons who are exercising their peaceful right to protest.

Earlier, on Friday (9), the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) filed three fundamental rights petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the arrests made under quarantine regulations.

The petitions, filed by SJB MPs Ranjith Madduma Bandara,  Harshana Rajapakurna and Mayantha Dissanayake, named the Inspector General of Police, the Director-General of Health Services, the Minister of Health and the Attorney General as respondents.

The submissions were made a day after Sri Lanka Police arrested over 40 protestors in Colombo and elsewhere for allegedly violating quarantine regulations, even as government supporters were seen celebrating the swearing-in of Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa by lighting firecrackers and gathering in small groups.

A majority of the arrests were made at a protest held near the Parliament complex in Sri Jayewrdenepura, Kotte, against the proposed Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) bill.

News footage showed protestors, including older women being forcefully subdued and carried into police buses amid shrieks of protest from fellow activists.

Thirty-one people including Sri Lanka Teachers’ Union General Secretary Joseph Stalin were arrested near the Parliament roundabout. The protest was jointly organized by the Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF), the Sri Lanka Teachers’ Union, and the Frontline Socialist Party.

The KDU bill, first presented in 2018 under the previous government, has been controversial, with left-leaning opposition parties including the Jantha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) alleging that it will pave the way for the militarization of higher education in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka banned protests and public meetings until further notice on Tuesday (6) to prevent large gatherings and the further spread of COVID-19.

-ENCL

 

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