Sri Lankan forces raid anti-government protest camp, over 50 injured
India Today
Sri Lanka is under a state of emergency imposed by Ranil Wickremesinghe on Sunday when he was acting president. Previous emergency regulations have been used to give powers to the military to detain and arrest protesters, and curtail the right to protest.
Sri Lankan security forces raided an anti-government protest camp in the commercial capital Colombo early on Friday, two protest organisers said, a sign that the country's new president was cracking down a day after his swearing-in.
Media footage from the site showed soldiers armed with assault rifles trying to tear down the camp as dozens of police watched on.
As daylight broke, dozens of troops in riot gear marched through the area and rows of protest tents that stood on both sides of the main road that passes in front of the president's secretariat completely cleared out.
Protesters had feared a crackdown was imminent under new President Ranil Wickremesinghe, an ally of his ousted predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Protest organisers said hundreds of security personnel surrounded the "Gota Go Gama" protest camp, mockingly named after Rajapaksa, after midnight and then took apart a section of it.
At least 50 protesters were injured, the organisers said, including some journalists who were beaten by security forces. Hospital sources said two were hospitalised.
"It was a systematic and premeditated attack," protest organiser Chameera Dedduwage told Reuters. "They actually brutally attacked people. What has happened is a very cheap show of power."