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Police action during the protests that took place near the US Embassy in Colombo where Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) members were to stage a demonstration in solidarity with the protests in the United States, following the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police has caused an uproar on several fronts.

The Police armed with a court order broke up the protests and unceremoniously bundled a number of protestors into Police Jeeps and took them into custody. A total of  53  individuals were arrested and subsequently bailed out.

Television and other video footage captured at the scene showed the extent of violence used in breaking up the demonstrations including the sight of a young woman thrown into a Police vehicle. They were arrested allegedly for violating a court order and for breaching quarantine laws and behaving in a manner conducive for the virus to spread said a Police officer.

The protestors however denied breaking any quarantine laws. According to Pubudu Jagoda of the FSP, they had organised the protest in line with the health guidelines issued by the Government.

“Our protestors stood one meter apart, wore face masks and sanitized themselves,” he said.

Questions have been raised however as to why the Police took the step of obtaining a court order ostensibly to prevent breach of quarantine laws when they had not shown similar concern with regard to the breach of quarantine laws at the funeral of the late Minister Arumugam Thondaman where hundreds of mourners had gathered to pay their last respects to the CWC leader.

The U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka too had said it did not request the demonstration opposite the embassy to be blocked.  U.S. Ambassador Alaina Teplitz tweeted, “Rights to peaceful assembly and free speech are cornerstones of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – rights the U.S. supports even when difficult for us.”

The Embassy, in a statement, said the United States supports the rights of Sri Lankans and all people to peacefully protest, which is consistent with their shared democratic traditions.

The whole incident  has caused outrage in public minds and  has even prompted Government politicians to express their strong disapproval  of the Police’s action.

Former Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, in a Twitter message, condemned the police attack on those taking part in the demonstration organised in Colombo by the FSP on Tuesday, against the murder of US national George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. He tweeted: “I strongly condemn the assault on protesters, and call for it to be investigated, and proper action to be taken.”

The attack on the FSP protestors had also figured in the discussions at this week’s Cabinet meeting.  Speaking at the Cabinet media briefing, Co-Cabinet spokesman Dr. Bandula Gunawardena condemned the assault but in the same breadth seemed to justify it by claiming  the attack was only a counter-attack made in response to an attack by the protestors and not an attack launched by a Government order to suppress the protestors.

According to  Dr. Gunawardane, the Cabinet which had met on Wednesday under the auspices of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had discussed the incident in depth.

According to a report of the media briefing in the Daily News, the President said any protestor who violates the quarantine law should not be subjected to any assault in future, and they will have to undergo a compulsory quarantine.

He also said police officers involved in this incident will also have to undergo a compulsory quarantine of 14 days. However Dr. Gunawardane made no mention of any decision to conduct an inquiry into the incident as urged by Namal Rajapaksa.

In addition to the outrage and the condemnation of the Police’s handling of the FSP protestors, there is a larger and more fundamental concern the incident brings to the fore. One of the most critical aspects of democracy is the right of people to exercise their right to freedom of association, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression as well as other fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

The State has the Constitutional duty to nurture and promote the exercise of such rights. The question for those concerned with the protection and strengthening of democracy is the propriety of the Police going to Court to obtain an order to prevent the holding of a demonstration.

Such action on the part of the Police also places an unfair burden on the Judiciary. Invariably the Police lodge such applications the day prior to a planned protest and the Judiciary is compelled to make an ex parte order  solely on the basis of the information provided by the Police without any further verification and input from the party against whom the order is being sought.

Such action on the part of the Police constitutes an easy way out for the law enforcement authorities, who have adequate powers  to deal with protests in the event such protests create breaches of peace or other violations of law, without having to obtain a court order to obstruct such demonstrations.

Continued resort by Police to obtain court orders to prevent the lawful exercise of our citizens fundamental rights would amount to an abuse of the judicial process and should be avoided at all costs if democracy has to have any meaning.

(javidyusuf@gmail.com)