Sheer show of police force
This is the horrific photograph published in the Sunday Times last week that epitomises the quintessence of police power in action which raised nationwide condemnation by the general public, including the President’s nephew and Prime Minister’s son, cabinet minister Namal Rajapaksa.
The shocking photograph, captured by Sunday Times photographer Eshan Fernando, shows an elderly lady, still clinging on to her handbag, forcibly carried to the waiting police bus while participating at a peaceful protest meeting near Parliament’s roundabout.
The 72-year-old lady protestor, who was among the 33 people arrested at Sri Jayewardenepura on July 8 for demanding that the controversial plan to set up a medical faculty at the Kotelawela Defence University be scrapped, was later released on bail.
Some, however, were not that lucky. After the magistrate had released them on bail, some – amongst them Ceylon Teachers’ Union General Secretary Joseph Stalin and Ven. Rathkarawwe Jinarathana Thera of the Inter University Students’ Federation – were forcibly taken to quarantine centres where they were held till Friday.
The police claimed then -- as did Police Minister Sarath Weerasekera this Friday night on television -- that they acted on the directive received from the Director General of Health Services.
They cited the directive from him to the IGP which the police had released to the media on July 6 which stated that there is a serious risk of the COVID infection spreading when people gathered in large numbers or hold protests. Therefore such large gatherings and staging protests should not be allowed to take place until further notice. The media statement also noted that the police will act according to the quarantine directive given.
The first question to be raised regarding this directive is whether any quarantine law empowers the Director General of Health Services to specifically ban the staging of protest under the cover of COVID? He has every right to ban gatherings but to target protests smack of a political bent in his directive and exceeds his fiat as the nation’s COVID Czar.
The second question is whether the police went beyond the call of duty when they forcibly packed off those
who had just been released by the magistrate to quarantine camps. Did they mistake sending people to quarantine as punishment for protesting, instead of recognising the real purpose of quarantine?
As reported in the Sunday Times last Sunday, PHIs’ Union President Upul Rohana said area PHIs did not recommend that protesters be quarantined. He said: “Neither the area Medical Officer of Health nor the PHI can recommend any protesters to be taken to quarantine in such a manner. There are strict guidelines on who can be quarantined and on what grounds.”
Since last week’s condemnation of such heavy handed action, the good news is that the Police appear to have mended their wayward ways and have shown marked restraint since. It is to be hoped such reformation will outlast the pandemic and will be a permanent virtue beyond COVID.