The Police Department had sought assistance from the public to identify a group of people whom the police said had forcibly entered the President’s House, the Temple Trees and the Prime Minister’s official residence. This raises the questions whether the authorities are planning to arrest all those who stormed these two state buildings as well as the offices of the President and the Prime Minister on July 9.
No doubt, the hundreds of thousands of people who entered these premises would not be able to prove the legality of their storming and occupying of these premises. On the very first day they occupied these buildings, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) which supported the public uprising against the government from its inception expressed their displeasure over the incident. Yet, is it possible for the authorities to take hundreds of thousands of people to task?
If the authorities examine the unedited video footages recorded by the mainstream media and the thousands of social media posts related to these incidents, they would be able to identify hundreds of thousands of people wandering about within these premises. Is it possible for the authorities to take all of them into custody and take legal action against them? If they are going to arrest only some of them, on what grounds are they going to pick them?
Yet, if they are going to identify those who caused damage to the properties and stole valuables from those mansions and those who were involved in violence, mainly the arson attacks on the houses of politicians including President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence on May 9 and July 9, it will be a realistic effort for which even the protestors should assist the authorities.
However, if the legal actions against those incidents took place during the protests from March to July, give the impression that they are aimed at avenging the protestors or a witch-hunt against certain individuals and instill fear in the government among the people, in order to prevent future protests, it might be counterproductive. The huge protest on July 9 was not an isolated incident; it was the upshot of a process which spontaneously started on March 31 in front of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s private residence as a result of an unprecedented economic crisis and gradually grew into a mass uprising which was generally called the “Aragalaya.”
It grew with the open support from trade unions in almost all sectors, artistes, lawyers, students and even the Veddah (Tribal) community living far away villages in Dambana. Western embassies lauded the peaceful manner in which the protests were conducted. President Wickremesinghe also appointed a committee to provide facilities soon after he was appointed Prime Minister on May 12, after a series of violent incidents.
An indiscriminate crackdown in the form of ‘legal action’ against the protestors might provoke adverse responses locally as well as internationally. Locally, the root cause of the protests has not been addressed as yet, despite the absence of miles-long fuel and gas queues.
Prices are still continuing to skyrocket. Trade unions have warned against what they called a witch-hunt against the leaders of the Aragalaya. People would be severely affected if they were provoked into trade union actions apart from disturbing the political stability in the country which is much needed for the programme involving the IMF.
Internationally, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor had expressed concern about the arrest of Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF) activists Wasantha Mudalige, Hashan Jeevantha and Galwewa Siridhamma Thera, who she called human rights defenders, under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). She had requested President Wickremesinghe not to sign the detention orders against them. She had expressed her displeasure over the arrest of whom she called human rights defender Joseph Stalin as well on August 3.
Also a group of EU Envoys who met President Wickremesinghe on August 10 had pointed out that “the protection of civil and human rights, above all freedom of expression and right to dissent, is of utmost importance” They further said that the “EU encourages the President to devote special attention to three ongoing key processes – GSP, IMF and Human Rights Council.” The message is clear. Especially, the GSP and IMF processes are extremely vital for the country against the backdrop of the current economic crisis.
Therefore, it would be prudent to look at the bigger picture and differentiate the protestors and unlawful elements when taking legal action against the latter over the incidents that took place during the protests.
