Media footage shows soldiers in riot gear and armed with machine guns demolishing a camp set up in April by protesters angered by the country’s economic collapse that has left fuel, food and medical supplies acute.
“Nine people were detained, including two wounded.”
Why are people protesting?
Protest organizers said hundreds of security personnel surrounded the Gota Go Gama protest camp, derisively named after Mr Rajapaksa, after midnight and then dismantled part of it.
Police say nine people were arrested during the crackdown on a protest camp in Colombo. Source: A MONKEY / AP
As dawn broke, dozens of soldiers marched through the area, and the rows of protest tents that lined both sides of the main road that ran in front of the president’s office were completely destroyed.
At least 50 protesters were injured, organizers said, including several journalists who were beaten by security forces. Hospital sources said two were hospitalized.
“They beat us very badly,” said Buddhika Abeiratne, 34, a protester who witnessed the raid but was unharmed. “Mr Wickremesinghe doesn’t know what democracy is.”
State of emergency declared
Sri Lanka has been in a state of emergency since Monday. Previous state of emergency rules have been used to give the military the power to detain and arrest protesters and restrict the right to protest.
Army soldiers stand guard as protesters and their tents are evacuated from a protest camp near the presidential secretariat in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Friday, July 22, 2022. Source: A MONKEY / AP
Mr Wickremesinghe, the former prime minister, was sworn in on Thursday after winning parliamentary elections this week following the resignation of Mr Rajapaksa, who fled to Singapore following massive public protests sparked by the country’s worst economic crisis in seven decades.
Who could be the next prime minister?
According to protest organizer Manjula Samarasekara, after surrounding the protest camp, security personnel approached the presidential secretariat, began dismantling some of the tents, and attacked the protesters.
Concern was expressed by American and British diplomats. “We call on the authorities for restraint and immediate access to medical care for those affected,” U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chang tweeted.
“Using the military to quell civilian protests on the first day of a new president’s tenure is despicable and will have serious consequences for the social, economic and political stability of our country,” the legal team said in a statement.
