It is disheartening and telling that one of his first actions in office was to attack the people rather than take steps to address the suffering of the people. His decision to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors is deeply alarming and does not offer the prospect of Sri Lanka progressing beyond the current crisis it is in.
Wickremasinghe was elected by parliament to take on the presidency, which was vacated due to the non-violent pro-democracy movement against authoritarianism and failed governance. The reference to protestors as “fascist” is totally inaccurate, inappropriate and damaging it weaponizes the term to provide an excuse for the use of extreme force. This space for resistance has also been used for educational purposes, with a university and library, advancing knowledge to all groups of people. Over the last several months the protestors have been inspiring and disciplined in exercising basic democratic rights to call attention to the crisis. That such a brutal attack against non-violent protestors was ordered by the country’s new President Ranil Wickremasinghe, less than 24 hours after taking office, is shocking and sends distressing signals of his method of governance. Nine protest leaders were also arbitrarily arrested and detained by the police. We are aghast at reports that five of the protestors were abducted and tortured by security force personnel violently beaten, forced to kneel on rocks and perform extremely tedious exercises whilst being threatened with death if they tried to escape.
We, the undersigned academics who work on Sri Lanka and South Asia more broadly, fully condemn the violent assault on peaceful protestors in Colombo by the Sri Lankan security forces on 22 July 2022. Advertisement Here is the statement in full: