TUS, CIVIL GROUPS THREATEN TO RESORT TO TU ACTION, IF PROTESTERS IN QUARANTINE NOT RELEASED

• Protesters were detained in a detention centre rather than in a quarantine centre • They have not been subjected to PCR tests or Antigen tests

Trade Unions and Civil Organisations would resort to a joint trade union action if all the protesters including Joseph Stalin and Duminda Nagamuwa, who were sent to quarantine, were not released after PCR tests conducted on them by Tuesday, a TU leader said yesterday.

National Trade Union Centre (NTUC) Chairman K.D.LAL Kantha speaking at a news conference convened by the organisation called ‘Trade Unions and Bahujana Sanvidana Ekamuthuwa against government suppression‘ which was formed yesterday with the participation of trade unions and civil society groups.

He said the protesters were detained in a detention centre rather than in a quarantine centre.

“They have not been subjected to PCR tests or Antigen tests.if they are to be sent to a quarantine centre, they should have undergone PCR tests and tested positive to COVID-19. IT means that they have not been sent to a quarantine centre.it is more like they are detained in a detention centre like the Boossa detention camp. This is a move to detain anti-government protesters.

There is no law to detain people like that.pcr tests should be conducted on Joseph Stalin,duminda Nagamuwa and others today and they should be released on Tuesday. If not,trade unions and civil organisations are ready to resort to trade union action this week,” he said. Government Nursing Officers Association Chairman Saman Rathnapriya said the right to protest and freedom of speech have been ensured by several acts and added that the Health Services Director General had no right to ban protests.

He said according to the quarantine ordinance, only those who come from abroad, close contacts of a patient and a patient who was discharged upon recovery can be quarantined. Mr. Rathnapriya pointed out that there was no law to quarantine protesters and stressed that they would resort to joint trade union action if the protesters were not released.

Wasantha Samarasinghe said they decided to form this new collective to fight against the government’s suppression of people’s rights to protest when the government failed in its governance. He said they have decided to resort to trade union actions this week and said they would announce the trade union action planned for July 14 and 16 shortly.