Police pull down itsy bitsy billboards

After a social media uproar, the Habaraduwa Police have been forced to remove two billboards put up by its Community Police Unit near a museum and a children’s park requesting tourists to dress according to “Sri Lankan culture.”

A Habaraduwa Police officer said one billboard had been placed near the Martin Wickramasinghe Folk Museum Complex and the other at the entrance to a nearby children’s park. The billboards were nowhere near the beaches, contrary to what some had claimed, he insisted. However, both billboards were taken down after the protests.

The billboards had been put up following a proposal made at the meeting of various community police committees. The meeting is held every three months and the officer said proposal to put up the billboards came from several community police committee chairpersons.

The offending billboards showed pictures of two women in bikinis that had been marked with a red cross with the words “Improper” written in English with translations in German and Russian. The billboards drew strong condemnation on social media, with many accusing the police of behaving like a “Culture Police.”

Even the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) expressed concern over the billboards, tweeting that such "dress code policing" is unneeded and unwarranted for tourists enjoying the scenic beaches of Sri Lanka. It added that the SLTDA had taken up the matter with the relevant authorities.