Colombo: two student activists detained for more than 90 days

They are Wasntha Mudalige, student delegate, and Galwewa Siridhamma Thero, representing monks. They were remanded in custody last week. The police forcefully suppressed civil society protests demanding the release of all detainees under the anti-terrorism law.

Colombo (AsiaNews) - Two members of the Inter-University Students Federation (Iusf) have been detained in Sri Lanka for over 90 days after being arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. On 18 November, several demonstrations were held in the capital Colombo demanding their release. The police responded by using water cannons and tear gas against the demonstrators. 

Wasntha Mudalige, delegate for students, and Galwewa Siridhamma Thero, representative of the monks, were remanded in custody last week despite pressure from several human rights organisations, including Amnesty International.

The two activists, who were detained in Tangalle Prison, were tried by the court of the anti-terrorism division and were granted custody thanks to an order issued on Thursday evening without the knowledge of either of them. 

The police took brutal measures to disperse the protests organised by the Inter-University Council, which were also attended by civil society activists and trade union representatives.

The actions of the police, who chased the protesters into side streets, were criticised by the population: "Does this government have so much money to deploy police and security teams and to use water and tear gas attacks? It is a horrible way to waste money that could give relief to the people of the country,'" some people who witnessed the police attacks on protesters told AsiaNews. "It is very serious that the police parked armed vehicles in front of the UN office in Colombo and launched an attack," some representatives of civil organisations said. 

Terence Rodrigo, president of the Iusf, said that Wasantha and Reverend Siridhamma, who also fell ill during their detention, would be detained for at least another five to six months. "The police had warned us not to continue with the marches, but today we have shown that we can do the things that were said to be impossible."

Since March there have been several anti-carpet protests in Sri Lanka that forced former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign.

• sri lanka
• colombo
• activists
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• detention
• prison
• police
• repression
• tangalle
• release
• inter-university federation