I never carried a pistol-Hambantota Mayor

17 April 2014 06:29 pm

While denying he was carrying a pistol in his hand during the incident in Hambantota today Hambantota Mayor Eraj Ravindra Fernando rejected claims that he was behind the attack in Magampura.

Mr. Fernando told Daily Mirror that he was sent by MP Namal Rajapaksa to look into the situation. “Mr. Rajapaksa had got to know of the earlier incident at the Mattala Airport and told me to go to the Magampura Port to try and avoid any commotion that might prop up there and I heeded this request,” he said.

He said a clash had begun between the UNP MPs and the angry staff and the villagers by the time he reached the port. “I had to intervene to allow the MPs to get into the bus and got hit by an egg in the process,” said Mr. Fernando.

According to Mr. Fernando, another crowd had approached the bus in which the UNP MPs were traveling and had attacked the passengers. “I then rushed in and dispersed the crowd,” he said.

“The allegation made by the UNP MPs is absurd; I even went and wished UNP MP Ajith Perera by offering my hand only to have him rudely push my hand away,” he said. (Yohan Perera)