By Saman Indrajith

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday that Joint Opposition statements on last Saturday’s incident near Parliament were not acceptable. Former local government members who raped 100s of girls and killed the husbands of wives they raped were no ordinary demonstrations; they were a security threat.

PM Wickremesinghe, soon after Joint Opposition Leader MP Dinesh Gunawardena raised a privilege issue on MPs coming under a police attack while dispersing a protest, said:

“I was told first that only a lane of parliament road had been closed. The protesters who came here threatened to surround Parliament. These are not ordinary protesters we see every day. They are not the undergraduates of the Inter University Students Federation. Among them were those who swindled public funds from local government bodies. When they threaten to surround Parliament it is not a demonstration it is a security threat. If there were MPs among them they too are accomplices. We did not see in media what the MPs say today. They talked with the media as if some upasakas had been attacked. What we actually saw were upasaka balallu.

Opposition MPs shouted at the Prime Minister.

The Speaker: There are no cats in Parliament.

Prime Minister: Among those present there was a person who had raped 100 girls. Another was responsible killing a husband of a woman he raped at Tangalle. So we were also afraid of them. They are known for burning tyres and attacking buses.

State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe: Dinesh Gunawardena and Bandula Gunawardena are senior MPs. They should set an example to others. We have MPs’ privileges but we have to protect the rights of the public. The protest was staged by the supporters of these MPs.

Speaker Jayasuriya: Police told their version of the story. They had offered to let several protesters to come in. but all of them had tried to barge in. Then there is a problem and police are empowered to decide what needs be done to maintain order.

Courtesy:The Island