Police to take legal action against organisers of SJB protest

Sri Lanka Police today 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 yesterday.

The SJB held a protest in Colombo with several thousands 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’.

“We are in the process of taking legal action,” police spokesman Nihal Thalduwa told reporters today.

He said the protest was organised in violation of the pandemic health guidelines.

The SJB charged that the government had resorted to using health guidelines for political purposes by curbing democratic dissent.

The Director General 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.

--With agencies inputs