Sri Lanka: trade unionists prevented from protesting upon court order
Event- Country
- Sri Lanka
- Initial Date
- Jul 25, 2023
- Event Description
Ten trade unions protested opposite the Fort Railway Station on Tuesday (25) morning, demanding an end to the looting of the EPF and ETF under the guise of Debt Restructuring.
However, before the protest took place, Sri Lanka Police obtained an order from the Fort Magistrate's Court preventing 10 trade unionists from entering several places and roads in Colombo.
The order is in effect from 9 AM to 6 PM on Tuesday (26).
The OIC of the Fort Police informed the Fort Magistrate's Court that the actions of the Trade Union leaders could disturb the activities of the public, and thus, based on that request, the order was issued.
The order was issued to 10 people, including Sameera Alwis - an Activist from the Banking and Financial Forum, Niroshan Gorakanage - General Secretary of the All Ceylon General Ports Employees Union, Sameera Pathirana - Deputy Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Workers Union, and Udayanga Hettiarachch - Spokesperson of the Ceylon Petroleum Workers' Union.
They are not permitted to proceed to the President's Office, President's House, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Police Headquarters, Fort Railway Station, as well as from CTO Junction to Olcott Mawatha.
Sri Lanka Police presented the Court Order to the trade union leaders ahead of the protest.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly
- Freedom of expression
- Offline
- Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 6.938218731898178
Longitude: 79.94600755034911
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 25 July 2023, ten trade unionists including Sameera Alwis, Niroshan Gorakanage, Sameera Pathirana, and Udayanga Hettiarachch, were prevented by a court order from protesting the looting of social security funds in Colombo, Sri Lanka.