Sri Lanka: peaceful protesters met with violence, arrest
Event- Country
- Sri Lanka
- Initial Date
- Feb 3, 2023
- Event Description
President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka President's Counsel Saliya Pieris has raised concerns over peaceful protesters, who were detained while they were staging the 'Satyagraha for freedom' yesterday in Maradana, being denied access to lawyers.
He stressed that the Police detaining access to legal counsel is in direct violation of Enforced Disappearance Act No.5 of 2018 which requires Police to give access to lawyers and relatives.
Police last night dispersed a group of peaceful activists staging a Satyagraha opposite Elphinstone Theatre in Maradana.
Police Media Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa confirmed that four people have been arrested.
Posting on social media President's Counsel Saliya Pieris further stressed that "Independence and freedom must be for the people and not limited to those in power."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly
- Freedom of expression
- Offline
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- Right to liberty and security
- Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 6.939551628060374
Longitude: 79.85033874839935
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 3 February 2023, a number of pro-democracy defenders were violently dispersed by the police with water cannons and tear gas, and some were arrested while staging a silent protest in Colombo, Sri Lanka.