25 June 2020 12:00 am
By Nishantha Hewage
The Young Lawyers Association (YLA) complains the attack on FSP’s anti- American protest is illegal. Speaking at a media conference held yesterday at Colombo, YLA member Migara Doss said arresting the FSP protesters was illegal as Police acted beyond the provisions given in the court order. According to the court order, he said that only the persons who protest in front of the American embassy in Colombo could be restricted.
“But there weren’t any protesters in front of the US embassy” he said. They had gathered just few hundreds of metres away from the US embassy. He said when the police receive a warrant the relevant parties should be communicated duly. But the FSP was not informed of the warrant. But police attacked them in an inhuman manner. YLA also condemned the arrest of the young lawyer Ms. Swasthika Arulingam who questioned the arrest of the protesters. Migara also emphasized that anyone has a right to question. YLA member Ms.Melani Perera said that there was a question why the police officers had wanted a court order to disperse a silent protest. She said even if police had got a warrant to disperse a protest they needed to abide by the legal framework.
“We saw on television how the protesters were arrested in an inhuman manner” she said. “First the court order must be explained to the relevant parties and secondly they must make the protesters obey the court order. None of the procedures were followed by the police” she said.