Sri Lankan security forces have arrested several people and cleared the main camp protesters have occupied for months while demanding leaders resign over the nation’s economic collapse.
Army and police personnel arrived in trucks and buses around midnight, removing tents and protest banners at the site near the presidential palace in the capital, Colombo, where demonstrators have gathered for the past 104 days. They blocked off roads leading to the site and carried long poles.
The security forces were witnessed beating up at least two journalists. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the main lawyers’ body in the country, also said at least two lawyers were assaulted when they went to the protest site to offer their counsel. Its statement Friday called for a halt to the “unjustified and disproportionate actions” of armed forces against civilians.
Sri Lanka’s economic chaos has left the nation’s 22 million people struggling with shortages of essentials,On Monday, in his role as acting president, Wickremesinghe declared a state of emergency that gave him broad authority to act in the interest of public security and order. Authorities have broad power to search premises and detain people, and Wickremesinghe can change or suspend any law.
On Friday, he issued a notice under the state of emergency calling out the armed forces to maintain law and order. The emergency must be reviewed by Parliament regularly to decide whether to extend it or let it expire., 73, has wide experience in diplomatic and international affairs and has been overseeing bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund. He said Monday those discussions were near a conclusion and talks on help from other countries had also progressed.
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