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Stunned protesters scrambled out of tents as military might descended on them
View(s):A handful of protesters were singing and dancing at the occupied Presidential Secretariat on Thursday (21) night as a last hurrah before they would hand it and “Gate Zero,” a gate to the Secretariat, to the authorities on Friday afternoon.
Rumours of buses carrying military personnel circling the area had reached the crowd but rumours of this sort were a daily occurrence at the site and they had decided it was most likely a false alarm.
Following the appointment of President Ranil Wickremesinghe protesters were prepared for a bittersweet break, which most assumed would be temporary.
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The next alarm was sounded at around 12.45 a.m. when news reached the tents that hundreds of military personnel were approaching the protest site.
Protesters scrambled out of their tents with their belongings stuffed into bags.
A few metres away on the pavements between Lotus Road and Baladaksha Mawatha, officers in riot gear were flooding the streets from within the Secretariat and through ‘Gate Zero’. Protesters scrambled to get out of the circled area but most were dazed from their sleep.
Barricades were put across the road and the state forces began clearing the area.
As morning dawned every single tent, poster, and flag had been removed.
The operation that took place early on Friday was a joint operation between the Police and Army, Police Spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nihal Thalduwa said.
State authorities also halted many people that attempted to reach the protesters inside ‘GotaGoGama’ and videos of people being assaulted for attempting to record were shared across social media.
Responding to accusations that several journalists were also attacked, SSP Thalduwa noted that there were legal recourses available for those who wished to file formal complaints. He advised protesters who claimed they had been met with violence to also make complaints so that Police could investigate.
SSP Thalduwa held that the occupation of the Secretariat had been illegal from inception, especially since the protesters had no permission from the municipal council.
“We have the authority to remove an illegal occupation,” he noted. He added that authorities had no faith in the protesters’ claims of evacuation as they had made such claims before. He also said that the time an evacuation is done is up to the discretion of the commanding officer and is dependent on a multitude of factors based on each situation.
Meanwhile, Police Headquarters released a video of an incident that occurred on Thursday near the S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike statue at Galle Face Green. The video appears to show protesters chasing away police who had gone there to deliver a court order issued by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court barring people from assembling within a 50-metre radius of the statue.
“We faced problems trying to convince them to leave peacefully,” claimed a senior police officer who spoke on grounds of anonymity. He said the protesters had provided various excuses to put off vacating the Secretariat and its surroundings whenever police brought up the issue. “There are many groups active at the site. Some groups were agreeable to leave but others were not. It was very hard since some elements were bent on confrontation.”
“We didn’t receive any notice to vacate as far as I know,” said Fr. Jeevantha Peiris a prominent face at the Galle Face Protest who was also assaulted during the site clearing. “There’s a procedure that citizens expect will be followed especially when a protest has been going on continuously in a peaceful way for months.”
He questioned why protesters weren’t just arrested if they were breaking the law. “Why destroy our property and demolish the tents and assault us?” Fr. Jeevantha alleged that iron poles had been used by the men that came down on the protesters in their sleep. “What is the legal basis for beating up people with hearing disabilities, and mothers?” he questioned referring to the dominant groups that had their tents pitched in the evacuated area.
Nine protesters including a lawyer who were arrested on Friday were released on bail by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court that evening. The protesters were continuing to occupy an area about 100 metres away from the Presidential Secretariat yesterday.
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