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Heightened security for Colombo, Kandy May Day rallies
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Preparations underway for May Day. Pix by Anurada Bandara
Security will be tight in Colombo and Kandy where the major May Day rallies will be held tomorrow, as political parties, trade unions and others gather to celebrate International Workers’ Day.
President Maithripala Sirisena will lead the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) rally at the Getambe ground in Kandy, while Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will lead the United National Party (UNP) rally at Campbell Park in Colombo.
“Colombo City will host 16 May Day rallies and we have assigned 1,533 police officers to be on duty on that day,” said Deputy Inspector General (Traffic) Palitha Fernando.
He said additional police personnel of about 500 will also be on duty on highways and for other regular police duties.
Road Development Authority (RDA) Director- Expressway Operation (Maintenance & Management Division) S. Opanayaka told the Sunday Times that, Govt has declared the highway toll-free for all buses using it to attend May Day rallies.
He said this 24-hour toll-free service will issue a special free ticket at the entry point, to be produced at the exit.
“By this, we will be able to monitor the number of vehicles using the highway on that day.”
He said there will be round-the-clock monitoring of traffic on the highways.
“These security measures had to be taken due to the damage caused to the highway rest areas on last year’s May Day, by people of both parties.”
He stated that, such unruly behaviour will not be tolerated this year, as the RDA, Police and the STF will implement a joint continuous security
operation.
