News
Govt. takes action to avert street protests
Government has decided to establish a new unit to take advance action, as a means of preventing unauthorised street protests by trade unionists, and other organisations.
The unit headed by a Deputy Inspector General of Police and will comprise a Senior Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Law and Order whose main task will be the gathering of information on protests and trying to address the issues at the inception, officials said.
The directive to establish the unit was given by President Maithripala Sirisena last week, in the aftermath of receiving a report regarding the incident where disabled soldiers were dispersed by the police using tear gas and water cannon.
The unit which will have the services of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the State Intelligence Service (SIS) will gather the information and co-ordinate with an Additional Secretary of respective ministries where outstanding issues need to be addressed.
The officer, in turn will take up the issue at a ministerial level and attempt to resolve problems which have arisen.
A Committee which probed the incidents opposite the Presidential Secretariat reported that the attack on the disabled soldiers could have been averted if there had been better communication during discussions to resolve outstanding issues of the disabled soldiers.
The Committee report has been submitted to President Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Minister of Law and Order -Sagala Ratnayake. The report also has been sent to the Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara for necessary disciplinary and legal action, as required.
During the year more than 100 protests have been held in Colombo causing severe inconvenience to pedestrians, motorists and others visiting the city.