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Govt. is using quarantine regulations as a weapon to suppress dissent: PWC

10 Jul 2021

The Progressive Women’s Collective (PWC) expressed that it has become evident that the government is using quarantine regulations as a weapon to suppress dissent in a media statement disseminated today (10). “On July 8th, 2021, several civil society organizations protested the Kotelawela National Defence University Bill that was debated in parliament. In Akuressa, Nuwara Eliya, and several other major cities protests were held opposing the government’s inability to solve pressing economic issues such as the unavailability of fertilizer and the spiralling cost of living. Organizers from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, Frontline Socialist Party, Ceylon Teachers’ Union and several other groups including comrade Krishnan Kalaiselvy of Women for Rights, were arrested and sent to quarantine,” the PWC stated. According to the Collective, the government’s show of power during these protests is symptomatic of its declining popularity and its inability to find solutions to problems without suppressing dissenters. It notes that as the regime’s unpopularity increases, more and more people have been democratically organising to raise their voices against government policies.  “Rather than heeding the voices of the public and responding to their issues, this regime has deployed the police to forcibly send activists and members of the public into quarantine. The government has also issued a gazette expressly forbidding public gatherings and demonstrations as a measure taken to restrict movements ostensibly for managing the spread of COVID,” it said. However the PWC points out that for many months now certain economic sectors have been open including tourism, free trade zones, construction etc. even though the majority of those working in these areas have not been prioritised for vaccination. The government has also insisted that their strategy is to open the country up as soon as possible.  Due to these reasons, the PWC says that it is very clear that the restrictions placed on protests are not in line with the government's general policy with regard to the management of Covid-19 or the containment of the pandemic.  “In contrast, these measures are despicable attempts to deliberately and unlawfully suppress dissent as its last desperate ploy to remain in power,” the PWC alleged. Further, the Collective also expressed that the government also uses the quarantine process as a means of punishing dissenters who oppose its “hasty policies and general inadequacy”. “Using the police to send people into quarantine, even when the courts have released them on bail is a clear violation of the law. The police have no power to exercise quarantine regulations – this comes within the purview of the health authorities and no health personnel are present when people are being taken for quarantine. Nor are they tested for COVID infections to ascertain whether they are infected or even whether anyone has been exposed to infection. It is also a deliberate ignoring of the decision of the court and amounts to abduction,” the PWC stated. Responding to footage from media outlets which detailed protestors, including women and senior citizens being pushed, shoved, kicked and dragged along the ground, the PWC noted with great concern the excessive force and violence used by the police when breaking up protests.  “It is ironic that the way in which these citizens have been handled could well have exposed them to COVID infection, rather than the protests in which they were engaged. It has long been clear that this regime is intolerant of democratic principles, particularly the right of dissent and freedom of expression. It is also very obvious that they have no desire or strategy to respond meaningfully to the very real problems people are facing due to irrational and reckless policy decisions,” it said. In conclusion, the PWC called upon the government to immediately stop using COVID as a means of suppressing dissent and to release all those who have been forcibly quarantined.  The Collective also urged fellow activists and citizens to stand firmly together at this moment and resist these “contemptuous efforts to limit democratic rights”.  “We stand behind our comrades who are currently forcibly detained under quarantine regulations and are determined to fight for their release,” the PWC highlighted.


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