Colombo, July 22 (AFP\/APP): Sri Lankan security forces demolished the main anti-government protest camp in the capital, evicting activists in a nighttime assault that raised international concern.<\/p>\n
Troops and police Special Task Force commandos wielding batons and armed with automatic assault rifles swooped in on protesters blocking the Presidential Secretariat.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of soldiers removed the demonstrators’ barricades outside the sea-front building, while the last remaining protesters on the premises — some still on the steps — were evicted.<\/p>\n
The operation came hours before the country’s new president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, swore in a new prime minister to try to manage the financial crisis that has crippled the economy and triggered months of protests.<\/p>\n
Wickremesinghe himself was elected by legislators on Wednesday to replace Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled to Singapore and resigned after demonstrators chased him from his palace.<\/p>\n
The remaining protesters — far fewer than the thousands who overran several government buildings earlier this month — have been demanding Wickremesinghe also quit, accusing him of protecting the Rajapaksa clan who have dominated politics for much of the last two decades.<\/p>\n
By morning, police commandos and soldiers armed with automatic assault rifles ringed the complex and the main roads leading to the area remained cordoned off.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of activists demonstrated at a nearby designated protest site against the authorities’ actions, demanding Wickremesinghe resign and dissolve parliament to allow for fresh elections.<\/p>\n
“Don’t attack peaceful protesters, instead listen to us,” said student Dimmithu, 26.<\/p>\n
The activists insisted they would continue their struggle, and Basantha Samarasinghe, 45, a businessman and trade union leader, said: “The peoples’ wish is system change, and parliament should be dissolved. It has no public mandate.”<\/p>\n
In a statement, police said: “Police and security forces acted to clear protesters occupying the Presidential Secretariat, the main gate and the surroundings.<\/p>\n
“Nine people were arrested. Two of them were injured.”<\/p>\n
The US ambassador in Colombo, Julie Chung, said she was “deeply concerned” about the military action.<\/p>\n
“We urge restraint by authorities and immediate access to medical attention for those injured,” she said on Twitter.<\/p>\n
Canadian High Commissioner (ambassador) David McKinnon said: “It is crucial the authorities act with restraint and avoid violence.”<\/p>\n
Amnesty International urged Sri Lankan authorities to respect dissent and condemned the use of force against journalists, including a BBC photographer, covering the military action.<\/p>\n
The overnight raid came after Wickremesinghe’s swearing-in and it was condemned by the head of the influential Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Saliya Peiris, who warned it would hurt the new government’s international image.<\/p>\n
“Unnecessary use of brute force will not help this country and its international image,” Peiris said in a brief statement, adding a lawyer was among those arrested.<\/p>\n
– New prime minister –<\/p>\n
Wickremesinghe has pledged to set up a unity government to steer the country out of its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948.<\/p>\n
A foreign exchange crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and exacerbated by mismanagement has left Sri Lanka suffering lengthy power blackouts and record-high inflation.<\/p>\n
The country’s 22 million people have also endured months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the new head of state swore in his political rival Dinesh Gunawardena as the country’s new prime minister.<\/p>\n
The two men have been schoolmates and friends since the age of three but lead political parties that are diametrically opposed ideologically.<\/p>\n
Wickremesinghe is a free-market champion and a pro-West politician while Gunawardena is a staunch Sinhala nationalist who believes in socialism and wants greater state control over the economy.<\/p>\n
The cabinet is scheduled to be sworn in later Friday and is expected to include opposition legislators.<\/p>\n
After Rajapaksa stepped down, six-time Prime Minister Wickremesinghe took over the leadership temporarily, until he was confirmed as the new president on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Wickremesinghe had warned protesters that occupying state buildings was illegal and that they would be evicted unless they left on their own.<\/p>\n
The day Rajapaksa was forced to flee, protesters also set fire to Wickremesinghe’s private home in the capital.<\/p>\n
“If you try to topple the government, occupy the president’s office and the prime minister’s office, that is not democracy, it is against the law,” he said.<\/p>\n
The new president has also declared a state of emergency that gives sweeping powers to armed forces and allows police to arrest and detain suspects for long periods without being charged.<\/p>\n
Protesters have accused Wickremesinghe of being a proxy of the former president’s powerful family — a charge he has denied.<\/p>\n
“I am not a friend of the Rajapaksas,” he told reporters at the Gangaramaya temple. “I am a friend of the people.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Colombo, July 22 (AFP\/APP): Sri Lankan security forces demolished the main anti-government protest camp in the capital, evicting activists in a nighttime assault that raised international concern. Troops and police Special Task Force commandos wielding batons and armed with automatic assault rifles swooped in on […]<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":52528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n