Police attack opposition protest in Sri Lanka

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Police attack opposition protest in Sri Lanka
By our correspondents
11 February 2010

Sri Lankan police and pro-government thugs attacked protestors
demonstrating in central Colombo yesterday against the arrest of
retired General Sarath Fonseka, the defeated opposition presidential
candidate. The police also dispersed opposition rallies in the
southern cities of Matara and Galle and in eastern Ampara.

Military police arrested Fonseka on Monday night, formally on the
orders of Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, on the
basis of vague allegations that Fonseka conspired to assassinate
President Mahinda Rajapakse and overthrow the government. The arrest
is part of broader moves to crack down on all opposition in the
country. Yesterday’s violent attack on protestors is a further message
that the government will tolerate no resistance.

Opposition parties, including the United National Party (UNP), Janatha
Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), had
announced the protest at Hultsdorf, near the Colombo judicial complex.
About 150 thugs were mobilised there by government politicians even
before protestors arrived, and clearly intended to attack the
demonstration. They were armed with iron bars, empty bottles and
clubs. Hundreds of police were also deployed, including the anti-riot
squad and water cannon.

Police had applied to a magistrate in the morning to issue an order
banning the protest, but the magistrate refused—another sign of deep
divisions in ruling circles. Police made no attempt to disperse the
pro-government mob, which shouted provocative slogans demanding
further arrests and denouncing the demonstrators as supporters of the
separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

As the protestors gathered, the armed thugs started to attack. The
police did not intervene to keep the groups apart, but used the
provocation as a pretext to attack the opposition demonstrators with
tear gas and water cannon. The police only backed off when around
5,000 protestors gathered, and the thugs retreated. Nine opposition
demonstrators were treated at the national hospital.

While the protest proceeded, Fonseka’s wife, Anoma Fonseka, filed a
fundamental rights petition challenging his arrest. The petition
declared that the arrest violated the general’s constitution rights,
including the freedom from arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention. It
named the Army Commander, the Defence Secretary and Attorney-General
as respondents. The case is due to be heard on Friday.

General Fonseka has been detained at the navy headquarters in Colombo.
Yesterday evening, his wife Anoma and his lawyer Wijedasa Rajapakse
were permitted to see him, after the International Committee of the
Red Cross and some foreign embassies intervened.

President Rajapakse and the Defence Secretary, his brother Gotabhaya,
have yet to make any statement on Fonseka’s arrest. The allegations
against him are so vague and contradictory that they could apply to
any form of anti-government opposition. Defence spokesman Keheliya
Rambukwella told the media on Tuesday that, while Fonseka was serving
as the country’s top general, he had “many dealings with the other
political party leaders who have been working against the government.
This amounts to treason to some extent…”

Rambukwella admitted that no charges had been framed. Instead,
evidence would be “gathered and verified” to frame charges. Similarly,
Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe, the military spokesman said: “We cannot
say exactly what the charges are.” The charges would be determined
“with the available evidence” by the Attorney-General’s department.

Rambukwella indicated that more arrests had already been made and
others would soon follow. “There are many others, military and
civilian, who were involved with Fonseka, who were also arrested. Some
others are yet to be arrested. The CID [Criminal Investigation
Division] and police are investigating.” By Rambukwella’s logic, the
leaders of all the opposition parties “conspired” with Fonseka and are
liable to arrest.

Inspector General of Police Mahinda Balasuriya yesterday issued an
extraordinary gazette notification under emergency regulations to
authorise the establishment of detention centres for arrested military
personnel. The facilities will be set up at the Technical College Army
camp at Nelumkulama in Vavuniya, the navy headquarters in Colombo, the
naval dockyard in Trincomalee and the army camp at Saliyapura in
Anuradhapura.

In this tense atmosphere, the government yesterday announced the
dissolution of parliament two months before schedule. The timing,
immediately after Fonseka’s arrest, is clearly designed to intimidate
opponents and throw the opposition parties into disarray. The
government is seeking a two-thirds majority in parliament to push
through still unspecified “constitutional changes”. This can only mean
a further step toward dictatorial rule.

The government’s crackdown is not aimed simply against the opposition
parties but the working class and youth. Having inflicted military
defeat on the LTTE, Rajapakse is preparing an “economic war” on the
working people to impose the burdens of the country’s 26-year civil
war and meet the terms of its $2.6 billion loan from the International
Monetary Fund.

Already discussion is underway on implementing the IMF’s austerity
measures. In London yesterday, the country’s Central Bank governor,
Nivard Cabraal, described the IMF’s target of reducing the budget
deficit to 5 percent of GDP by next year as “challenging.” Independent
economists estimate that the budget deficit rose last year to between
9 and 11 percent. Cutting the deficit in half by 2011 means drastic
attacks on living conditions and social services in the next budget,
which will now be presented after the parliamentary elections.

The opposition parties, including the UNP and the JVP, share the
government’s economic agenda. They are themselves trenchant defenders
and enforcers of the interests of the Sri Lankan bourgeoisie. Their
differences with Rajapakse are purely tactical, bound up with
divisions over how best to impose the IMF’s dictates, and where to
line up in the intensifying rivalry in the region between the major
powers, especially the US and China.

For now, the opposition parties are seeking to shore up their own
flagging support by posing as defenders of democratic rights. They
reflect fears in sections of the ruling elite that the blatant
crackdown on the official opposition could fuel popular disaffection.
In the presidential election they backed Fonseka, who was jointly
responsible with Rajapakse for the communal war against the LTTE and
all the military’s war crimes.

Yesterday’s violence against opposition protestors, and the regime’s
threats of further arrests are a warning of even greater attacks on
democratic rights as the Sri Lankan business and political
establishment turns to dictatorial forms of rule to impose the full
burden of its deep economic crisis on the working class.

http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/slpr-f11.shtml

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