Fresh chaos in Parliament, crisis continues

Sri Lanka’s Parliament witnessed chaos for a second day Friday as MPs loyal to disputed prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa occupied the seat of Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and shouted slogans, forcing him to summon police inside the House and adjourning the session until Monday.

The brawl occurred a day after the Speaker announced there is no prime minister or government following a no-confidence motion against Rajapaksa.

Friday’s proceedings were to repeat the floor test which was disrupted on Thursday. President Maithripala Sirisena, who installed Rajapaksa as prime minister last month in a controversial move, had agreed for a floor test with the leaders of ousted prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s coalition during crisis talks last night. The MPs supporting Rajapaksa took over the seat of the Speaker, delaying the proceedings, officials said. They shouted slogans against Jayasuriya. The Speaker summoned police inside Parliament chamber after 45 minutes of disruption. One of the rioting MPs Arundika Fernando occupied the seat of the Speaker with more MPs surrounding it.

Gamini Jayawickrema Perera, a senior parliamentarian, was injured in the melee.

The rioting United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) members demanded the arrest of two legislators of the Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP). They charged that two UNP legislators, Palitha Thewarapperuma and Ranjan Ramanayake were carrying knives during the brawl which took place yesterday.

Yesterday, UPFA MP Dilum Amunugama was injured in clashes inside the chamber. Police on Friday protected Jayasuriya from the rioting MPs as he called the Tamil National Alliance lawmaker MA Sumanthiran to propose the suspension of the standing orders.

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