{"id":76763,"date":"2022-04-01T01:11:36","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T05:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=76763"},"modified":"2022-04-01T17:33:21","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T21:33:21","slug":"president-gotabaya-rajapaksa-declares-state-of-emergency-after-protest-outside-his-mirhana-residence-over-50-suspected-demonstrators-arrested-amid-allegations-of-torture-in-police-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=76763","title":{"rendered":"President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Declares State of Emergency After Protest Outside his Mirhana Residence; Over 50 Suspected Demonstrators Arrested Amid Allegations of Torture in Police Stations"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of Emergency in crisis-hit Sri Lanka, a day after angry citizens converged in front of his residence demanding his immediate resignation.<\/p>\n

An extraordinary gazette notification issued late on Friday said the state of emergency, coming into immediate effect, was \u201cin the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community\u201d.<\/p>\n

The move comes as spontaneous pocket protests erupt in different parts of the country. the President has blamed \u201corganised extremists\u201d for staging a large protest outside his private residence on Thursday night, as public anger mounts over his government\u2019s handling of the economic crisis gripping Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Over 50 suspects have been arrested, police said. Nightlong curfews were imposed in the area and other select neighbourhoods, amid reports of angry citizens blocking roads and demanding that the government step down.
\nThe President\u2019s Media Division said a group, \u201ccarrying iron bars, clubs and sticks\u201d had \u201cprovoked the protesters\u201d, and \u201cmarched towards\u201d the President\u2019s residence, \u201ccausing a riot\u201d. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of those involved in this violent incident have been arrested and many have been identified as organised extremists. They had led the protest shouting the slogans \u2018let\u2019s create an Arab Spring in this country\u2019,\u201d its statement said. <\/p>\n

Spiralling shortages<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to opposition parties, citizens\u2019 groups in Sri Lanka have been holding independent protests in several areas for nearly a month against the government that they hold responsible for the country\u2019s rapidly deteriorating economic condition. Fuel, food, and medicines are in short supply, while the public are facing long power outages \u2014 upto 13 hours on Thursday \u2014 disrupting daily life.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s protest began peacefully, with dozens of citizens silently gathering at the venue, holding anti-government posters, and chanting slogans asking Mr. Rajapaksa to \u201cgo home\u201d. Later, riot police deployed to the area used tear gas and water cannons, as authorities accused some protestors of \u201cturning violent\u201d.<\/p>\n

A team of senior government ministers that held a press conference on Friday morning sought to blame \u201cextremists from opposition parties\u201d for the \u201cviolence\u201d which, they said, prompted army deployment.
\nThe UN\u2019s Resident Coordinator in Colombo said in a tweet: \u201cWe are monitoring developments and are concerned by reports of violence in #SriLanka. Calling for restraint from all groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Torture allegations<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, some of the persons arrested following the protest have complained of torture in police stations.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral bystanders and people, including Tamil and Muslim boys, who had nothing to do with the protest, have been arrested,\u201d said lawyer Swasthika Arulingam, after visiting the police station. \u201cSome of them were bleeding when I met them. They said the army and STF [Special Task Force] beat them badly,\u201d she told The Hindu.<\/p>\n

The protest not only reflects a further escalation of the crisis, but also signals people\u2019s growing frustration, according to political observers. \u201cPeople have begun to show their anger against the President and government\u2019s insensitivity to their suffering, and utter inability to manage this growing economic and political crisis,\u201d senior political scientist Jayadeva Uyangoda told The Hindu.<\/p>\n

Terming it a protest against the \u201carrogance of power shown\u201d by the President and his Cabinet, he said it had potential to mark a \u201cturning point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time in the recent history of Sri Lanka that people are taking to the streets voluntarily and independent of political parties,\u201d Prof. Uyangoda said, pointing to its \u201cstrengths and limits\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA spontaneous mass protest is easy to crush and cannot be sustained politically, without the backing of opposition political parties,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Courtesy;The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meera Srinivasan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of Emergency in crisis-hit Sri Lanka, a day after angry citizens converged in front of his residence demanding his immediate resignation. An extraordinary gazette notification issued late on Friday said the state of emergency, coming into immediate effect, was \u201cin the interests of public security, the …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Declares State of Emergency After Protest Outside his Mirhana Residence; Over 50 Suspected Demonstrators Arrested Amid Allegations of Torture in Police Stations’ »<\/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\/76763"}],"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=76763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76764,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76763\/revisions\/76764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}