Sri Lankan president urged not to use force on protesters

COLOMBO: An international human rights group is urging Sri Lanka’s new president to immediately order security forces to cease all unlawful use of force against protesters who have been demonstrating against the government for months over the country’s economic meltdown.

A day after President Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in on Thursday, hundreds of armed troops raided a protest camp outside the president’s office in the early hours of Friday, attacking demonstrators with batons in a move that Human Rights Watch said “sends a dangerous message to the Sri Lankan people that the new government intends to act through brute force rather than the rule of law".

Two journalists and two lawyers were also attacked by soldiers in the crackdown. Security forces arrested 11 people, including protesters and lawyers.

“Urgently needed measures to address the economic needs of Sri Lankans demand a government that respects fundamental rights,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement released early on Saturday. “Sri Lanka’s international partners should send the message loud and clear that they can’t support an administration that tramples on the rights of its people," she added.

Wickremesinghe, who previously served as prime minister six times, was sworn in as president a week after his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled the country after protesters stormed his residence. Rajapaksa later resigned while exiled in Singapore.

Sri Lankans have taken to the streets for months to demand their top leaders step down to take responsibility for the economic chaos that has left the nation’s 22 million people struggling with shortages of essentials, including medicine, fuel and food. While the protesters have focused on the Rajapaksa political dynasty, Wickremesinghe also has drawn their ire as a perceived Rajapaksa surrogate. Armed troops and police arrived in trucks and buses on Friday to clear the main protest camp near the presidential palace in the capital, Colombo, where demonstrators had gathered for more than 100 days. They removed tents and blocked roads leading to the site.

The troops moved in even though protesters had announced they would vacate the site on Friday voluntarily.

Sri Lanka’s opposition, the United Nations, and the US have denounced the government’s heavy-handed tactics.

Despite the heavy security now positioned outside the president’s office, protesters have vowed to continue their efforts until Wickremesinghe resigns.

Wickremesinghe was voted president by lawmakers this week - apparently seen as a safe pair of hands to lead Sri Lanka out of the crisis, even though he, too, was a target of the demonstrations.