COLOMBO: Early on Friday, according to two protest organisers, Sri Lankan security personnel stormed an anti-government protest camp in the nation’s commercial city Colombo. This was an indication that the country’s new president was stepping up his crackdown one day after taking office.
Numerous police officers were there while soldiers armed with assault rifles attempted to destroy the camp.Rows of protest tents that were positioned on either side of the major road that passes in front of the president’s secretariat were totally swept out as daybreak broke and scores of soldiers in riot gear marched through the area.
As an associate of his deposed predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, incoming President Ranil Wickremesinghe had raised fears among protesters that a crackdown was about to begin.
