{"id":50275,"date":"2016-12-10T23:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-12-11T04:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=50275"},"modified":"2016-12-10T23:01:19","modified_gmt":"2016-12-11T04:01:19","slug":"navy-commander-wijegunaratne-sans-uniform-leads-assault-operation-to-rescue-two-foreign-container-ships-occupied-by-protesting-hambantota-port-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=50275","title":{"rendered":"Navy Commander Wijegunaratne Sans Uniform Leads “Assault Operation” to Rescue Two Foreign Container Ships Occupied by Protesting Hambantota Port Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sandun Jayawardena and Chandani Kirinde<\/strong><\/p>\n

Workers on strike at the Hambantota Port for a fourth day and continued to occupy two foreign container vessels forcing a Navy operation to evict them yesterday.<\/p>\n

Later yesterday, the Navy helped one of these ships \u201cHyperon Highway\u201d to leave the Port. Gantry cranes positioned on the path of the two vessels still impeded their exit. However, one of the vessels was safely escorted out of the port by the Navy last evening.<\/p>\n

Navy Commander Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, who was in civilian attire, led the operation to clear the strikers from the jetty. The Navy established a cordon in the jetty protecting the vessels and deployed boats to ensure there were no further obstructions.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The strike was launched by the Magampura Port Workers Union. They are demanding that some 483 temporary workers be made permanent. On Friday, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa requested Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to grant them permanent status and thus resolve the strike. Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga told a media briefing yesterday that the strike had been \u201cled by political elements\u201d to obstruct work at the port. He said the majority of the workers had been recruited in 2012 for a \u2018training period\u2019 and there had been no plans to recruit them to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could have removed them when we were voted to power. We did not do that,\u201d he said. He added that the Government had negotiated with the Chinese investors to include these workers. \u201cAfter the strike, I cannot guarantee this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The container vessel \u201cHyperon Highway owned by \u201cK\u201d Line shipping, one of Japan\u2019s largest transportation companies, had on board more than 5,000 motor vehicles. The mooring ropes of this vessel, Port officials in Hambantota said, had been deliberately blocked by forklifts, excavators and gantry cranes.
\nMeanwhile, there were heated scenes in Parliament yesterday over the manner in which the Government handled the protest by workers at the Hambantota Port with State Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardena describing the blocking of the ships as an \u201cact of piracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joint Opposition (JO) members raised the issue in Parliament during the Committee Stage debate of the Ministry of Finance. They accused the Government of using the Navy to attack the workers. \u201cNavy personnel have attacked the workers at the Hambantota Port. Naval ratings are beating up the workers with poles. This should be stopped immediately,\u201d JO member Wimal Weerawansa said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wijewardene said the Navy personnel had not attacked the strikers who had taken over two ships that were anchored in the harbour. \u201cThe Navy personnel were sent there to rescue the vessels from the strikers. The workers were not shot at or beaten up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Courtesy: Sunday Times<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Sandun Jayawardena and Chandani Kirinde Workers on strike at the Hambantota Port for a fourth day and continued to occupy two foreign container vessels forcing a Navy operation to evict them yesterday. Later yesterday, the Navy helped one of these ships \u201cHyperon Highway\u201d to leave the Port. Gantry cranes positioned on the path of …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Navy Commander Wijegunaratne Sans Uniform Leads “Assault Operation” to Rescue Two Foreign Container Ships Occupied by Protesting Hambantota Port Workers’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50275"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50276,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50275\/revisions\/50276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}