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Cardinal slams quarantine of protestors

14 Jul 2021

  • Terms it a ‘return to old political culture of thuggery’ 
  • Catholic Church to weigh in on KNDU after studying Bill 
BY Pamodi Waravita The Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith yesterday (13) severely criticised the Government’s response to the protests against the General Sir John Kotelawala National Defence University (KNDU) Bill last week. “It is disappointing to see activists and protestors against the KNDU Bill being forcibly sent to quarantine after being granted bail by the Courts. This is a return to the old political culture, where thuggery is used to suppress freedom,” the Archbishop said responding to a question posed by The Morning yesterday. The Archbishop added that the Catholic Church would announce its own observations regarding the University (KNDU) Bill soon, especially with regard to any potential harm it could pose to free education. The Church is scheduled to study the Bill over the coming days. Meanwhile, speaking at a press conference yesterday, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and National People’s Power (NPP) Leader and Parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that the Health Promotion Bureau’s (HPB) regulations are only about public meetings, and not specifically about protests, and as such a number of Fundamental Rights (FR) petitions were filed by the JVP in this regard. “The Health authorities have not specified whether the regulations are about protests, or a celebration event about Basil Rajapaksa entering the Parliament. However, the Police Media Unit’s media statement has specifically said that protests are not allowed due to the risk of the spread of Covid-19. The Police should clarify whether these are actually the regulations given by the Health authorities. We have continuously said that the health regulations are used to suppress dissent and the freedom of expression, which is a fundamental right in the Constitution. We have filed several FR petitions in the Supreme Court regarding this,” added Dissanayake. Over 31 arrests of activists, trade unionists and students were made last week at the protests condemning the KDNU Bill. Although bail was later granted to these arrestees, approximately 16 of them, including the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) Secretary Joseph Stalin, were then forcibly sent to quarantine centres for 14 days. This has received widespread condemnation from many parties, including the country’s main Parliamentary Opposition - the Samagi Jana Balawegeya (SJB), the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), the Lawyers for Social Justice organization and the United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka Hanaa Singer-Hamdy. Another protest was held this week by the Inter University Student Federation (IUSF) and the Student Movement for Free Education at the Lipton Roundabout, demanding the protection of the right to protest, condemning the forced quarantine measures imposed by the State, and against the KNDU Bill, due to its threats to free education and the potential militarisation of education. The CTU has also submitted a written complaint to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet about the suppression of peaceful protests that occurred in the country last week and the forced quarantine measures taken by the Police against activists.


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