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Police taking legal action against SJB protest organisers

17 Nov 2021

  • Bomb threat suspect remanded till 24 Nov.
Sri Lanka Police yesterday (17) said legal action would be taken against the organisers of the protest staged by the country’s main Opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), for defying pandemic health guidelines by holding a public protest on Tuesday (16). “We are in the process of taking legal action,” Police Media Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa told reporters yesterday, adding that the protest was organised in violation of the pandemic health guidelines. The SJB held a protest in Colombo with an estimated 10,000 people flocking to register a myriad of issues from high cost of living to shortage of essentials. SJB MP Harsha de Silva said most of their activists were prevented from travelling by buses from the outer districts to the city by the police, who had placed roadblocks to turn back activists. The SJB leader Sajith Premadasa vowed to take the fight to the Government in his action termed as ending the “queue era”. The SJB charged that the Government had resorted to using health guidelines for political purposes by curbing democratic dissent. The Director General of Health Services issued new health guidelines severely restricting the movements under the pandemic situation. The Government parliamentarians accused the SJB of organising the protest to trigger another wave of the pandemic and thereby inconvenience the Government. Meanwhile, a suspect who was arrested over a bomb scare targeting the SJB’s protest march held on Tuesday has been remanded until November 24. He was produced before Colombo Magistrate’s Court yesterday after being arrested by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD). The magistrate also called for a report from a psychiatrist on the suspect. According to reports, the suspect had lodged a complaint with the Kurunduwatte Police about an imminent bomb threat at the protest rally organised by the main Opposition. He had also recorded a statement with the police with regard to his claims.


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