Stay away from protests

20 February 2011 03:53 pm

Sri Lankan expatriates in Middle Eastern countries have been requested to stay indoors and not to get involved in any of the demonstrations taking place, Deputy Minister of External Affairs Neomal Perera told Daily Mirror

Ministry of External Affairs had informed Sri Lankan Embassies in all the Middle Eastern countries where there are mass protests to inquire about the safety of Sri Lankan expatriates.

Deputy Minister of External Affairs Neomal Perera told Daily Mirror that the Ministry had asked the embassies to inform the Sri Lankan expatriates in those countries to stay indoors and not to get involved in any of the demonstrations. “We have made this decision as Sri Lanka is not prepared to get involved in any of these crisis situations, “ he said

No Sri Lankan had been hurt in the protests that are taking place in Bahrain and Libiya according to the Deputy Minister.

Meanwhile the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment had decided to temporarily stop sending Sri Lankan expatriates to Bahrain for employment.

Some 5929 have flown to Bahrain as in November 2009 according to the statistics of Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment. In addition only 161 have flown towards Libya which is another country where mass protests have erupted.

Protests which began in Egypt several weeks ago have spread towards several other nations in the region including Bahrain and Iran. News agencies reported that the Iranian opposition was planning a mass protest today. (Yohan Perera)