Cabinet Spokesman Bandula Gunawardena  

• But argues Police merely reacted to protestors attacking first
• Says Police instructed to find ways to disperse future protestors without attacking them
• Points out first attack since new Govt. came into power    

By Uditha Jayasinghe

The Government yesterday condemned the Police handling of the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) protest and said it at no point promoted Police brutality since coming into power but also defended Police action as a reaction to protestors attacking Police first.

Cabinet Spokesman Bandula Gunawardena yesterday said that the Government, including President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Cabinet of Ministers “wholeheartedly condemned” Police handling of the protest on Tuesday, but insisted video footage obtained showed that the protestors had attacked Police first.

“We have video evidence that clearly shows the Police approached the protestors to hand over the Court order prohibiting the protest and protestors responded violently towards the Police. The Police then reacted to the protestors and that was how this incident happened. However, we condemn the actions of the Police and steps will be taken to ensure such a situation does not occur again,” Gunewardena told the weekly Cabinet briefing.

The Cabinet Spokesman argued that since coming to power in November this was the first such incident of Police attacking a protest and called on the public to be more conscious of following COVID-19 guidelines issued by health authorities.

He also defended the large public gathering seen at former Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) Leader Arumugam Thondaman’s funeral recently as having taken place when the COVID-19 situation “had been brought under control”. “Before our Government came into power massive rallies, especially of students, were a common sight. However, when they came before the University Grants Commission or any other Government building the gates were kept tightly shut and they were roundly tear gassed and beaten. Since we came to power even when students protested outside my office and harassed my officials, they were still treated with tolerance. The FSP protest this week was the first time such an incident has taken place since November. The Police have been instructed not to attack protestors but find ways to disperse them to protect social distancing measures,” he said.

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