Description

On 4th February 2023, the day following the conclusion of UPR on Sri Lanka, the government
celebrated the 75th Independence Day, with a pompous military parade. On 3rd and 4th
February, several protests were held in Colombo70, Jaffna71 and other areas and 4th
February, several protests were held in Colombo70, Jaffna71 and other areas72 against
expenditure of public money on a military parade, at a time Sri Lanka is going through its worst
economic crisis. Despite media reports initially mentioning an estimated 200 million Sri Lankan
rupees expenditure on the parade according to the Public Administration Ministry, the
government later claimed only 11 million rupees were spent. On 3rd February, a group of Aragalaya activists organised a Satyagraha, a silent protest near
the Elphinstone Theatre in Maradana, in Colombo city, under the theme “where is so called
independence?” showing their displeasure towards the Independence Day celebrations. There was a large number of armed and police personnel continuing to patrol the area. The
Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage issued a court order preventing any demonstration march or
any person from entering Galle Face and nearby areas. Also, he specifically forbade 27
activists including trade unionist Ceylon Teachers Union General Secretary Joseph Starlin
and Frontline Socialist Party activist Duminda Nagamuwa from obstructing roads towards Galle Face. Maligakanda Magistrate Lochani Abeywickrama issued a separate order
preventing demonstrations around the Maradana area, however the court noted that peaceful
protests were not banned by the order. According to the Human Rights Commission who
later conducted an investigation into the attack, an unidentified group who had arrived there
had created a tense situation, after which Police have used tear gas and water cannons to
disperse the peaceful demonstrators. Police have arrested one woman and three men who
were granted bail after being produced before the Maligakanda Magistrate Court.