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Horana Police gathering protestors’ details

09 Sep 2021

  • Says info sought for ‘CID probe’ Teachers claim Govt. intimidation
By Buddhika Samaraweera Horana Police Headquarters Inspector of Police (HQI) has requested information regarding the recent protests held by teachers and principals demanding a solution to their salary anomaly issues, including the names and addresses of those who organised them. The HQI Horana had made this request from the Divisional Secretaries of Horana, Ingiriya, Madurawala, and Millaniya Divisional Secretariats in a letter dated 5 September. The requested details include the Police divisions where the teachers and principals protests were held, the names and addresses of those who organised them, the number of people who participated in the protests, and the details of the teachers and principals who were infected with Covid-19 as a result of attending the protests and had died due to the virus after attending such protests. In the letter, the HQI had informed the Divisional Secretaries that such information was needed for an investigation which is currently being carried out by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). When contacted by The Morning, an official of the Horana Police Headquarters said that the relevant letter was sent to the Divisional Secretaries in order to obtain information on an official level as per a request made by the CID. However, speaking at a media briefing yesterday (8), the Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin charged that the Government is now trying to intimidate teachers and principals instead of solving their issues such as the salary anomalies. Further, he called on the Public Security Minister Rear Admiral (Retd.) Dr. Sarath Weerasekera to make a statement as to whether the letter in question was sent to the Divisional Secretaries under his instructions. “Weerasekera should reveal to the public as to whether such an investigation is carried out by the CID and whether he instructed the Horana HQI to issue such a letter.” Speaking further, Stalin said: “At the time this letter was sent, it had been almost a month since the protests by teachers and principals were suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation. In such a situation, if the Government takes action to intimidate teachers and principals in this manner, we would like to say that we are not afraid of any such acts. We will continue with the struggle to demand solutions to our issues. Anyone can carry out any investigation, but the teachers and principals are not afraid of any of them.” Attempts to contact Weerasekera and Public Security Ministry Secretary, Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Jagath Alwis were not successful. Nearly 30 teachers’ and principals’ trade unions initiated a number of trade union actions including the withdrawal from all online teaching activities since 12 July, demanding solutions to their issues including the teacher-principal salary anomalies. Protests have also been held in several areas as an extension of such trade union actions. During such a protest held in front of the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo recently, more than 40 teachers and principals were arrested by the Police, and the rapid antigen tests (RATs) performed on them revealed that they were not infected with the Covid-19 virus. Subsequently, taking into account the rapidly spreading Covid-19 pandemic in the country, the teachers’ and principals’ trade unions, on 6 August, decided to suspend the protests and instead they commenced staging digital protests.


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