US Expresses Concerns Over Handling of Sri Lankan Protestors

COLOMBO (ANI) – US Ambassador to Colombo Julie Chun on July 22 expressed deep concerns about the actions taken by Sri Lankan authorities against protestors at Galle Face in the middle of the night.

Chun asked for restraint by authorities and immediate access to medical attention for those injured. “Deeply concerned about actions taken against protestors at Galle Face in the middle of the night. We urge restraint by authorities and immediate access to medical attention for those injured,” she tweeted.

Many protestors confronted armed security personnel as the latter set up barricades outside the premises of the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat in Colombo.

The armed soldiers were deployed in a bid to control the protestors who have been protesting the new Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe outside the premises of the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat. Protesters are alleging that security personnel raided the anti-government protest camp in the capital on early July 22.

“Ranil Wickremesinghe wants to destroy us, they are again doing this, but we will never give up. We want to make our country free of such nasty politics,” said a protestor amid an armed forces crackdown. Tents of protestors are being dismantled by the armed security personnel outside the premises of the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat.

As Sri Lanka scrambles to get back on track after the election of a new President, the people in the country — who are facing severe economic hardship — are still uncertain about the future.