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Private bus owners were not told buses hired to attack protestors 

12 May 2022

  • 30 buses carrying SLPP’s Temple Trees attackers destroyed 
BY Dinitha Rathnayake  The owners of the private buses that were destroyed by the public for transporting Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Government supporters on Monday (9) had only been told that the buses would be used to transport people to a meeting at Temple Trees, and not that the people so transported would attack peaceful protests, claimed the Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association (LPBOA). “This is a crucial time for the bus owners, as they are running at a loss. After the Covid-19 pandemic, some of them have been unable to pay their insurance fees. They have to feed their families as well. We have no political party. We give buses to anyone who hires them by paying us,” Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association Chairman Gemunu Wijeratne told The Morning.  He said that around 30 of the 40 buses that were transporting the SLPP Government supporters who had attended a meeting with then-Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees on Monday were fully destroyed due to retaliatory attacks by the public.  According to Wijeratne, none of the said buses belonged to supporters of the SLPP.  “The cost of a bus in the past was around Rs. 5-6 million, but now it is over Rs. 10 million. How could they afford to buy a new one? All 30 buses are in a condemned state.”  Following the meeting at the Temple Trees, SLPP supporters had attacked peaceful anti-Government protesters at the “MynaGoGama” protest site in front of the Temple Trees in Kollupitiya and at the “GotaGoGama” protest site in the Galle Face Green in Colombo.  Several buses that had transported the SLPP supporters to Colombo had then been attacked by the public while attempting to leave the city near Thimbirigasyaya and several other places in Colombo. It was also learnt that certain people had removed tyres and other parts of these buses for sale.


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