Galle Face struggle gets breathing space after court challenge
Protesters will be able to remain at their Galle Face Green site until Wednesday, following an undertaking given to court by the country's chief law officer. This was the result of a legal challenge by lawyers acting for the aragalaya, citing the violation of Constitutional rights.
The Colombo Fort Police had ordered protesters to remove all illegal structures and leave by Friday 5 pm.
But, the unauthorised structures and illegal camps will not be removed unless proper legal procedures are followed, until August 10, the Attorney General (AG) informed the Court of Appeal on Friday.
The Deputy Solicitor General, Sumathi Dharmawadena, representing the AG, informed the court that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) will be advised immediately.
However, the court held that there was no impediment to the respondents initiating initial steps for the removal of the camp during the interim period.
Several protesters filed four writ petitions seeking an order preventing police from removing them from the site. Hearings are set for Wednesday, August 10.
The court also said that the AG's undertaking will not be an impediment to anyone who is voluntarily leaving the site.
The Fort Police made their announcement to protesters from a threewheeler fitted with a loudspeaker at Galle Face on Wednesday. The police said that all illegal structures and makeshift cultivation plots on land owned by the Government or the Urban Development Authority (UDA) must be removed before the Friday deadline.
The petitions against the removal of protesters from the site were filed by lawyer Manjula Balasuriya. The OIC of the Colombo Fort Police, CI Sagara Liyanage, IGP Chandana Wickramaratne, UDA, and the AG were named respondents.
The petition claims that the OIC's directive at the Colombo Fort Police Station violated their Constitutional rights and requested that the police order be suspended until their petitions were heard.
Protesters have been camped out near the Presidential Secretariat on the Galle Face Green since April 9, demanding the resignation of then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa and, now, current President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and the Government.
The protest site, initially known as 'Gota Go Village' and now renamed 'Ranil Go Village,' has been a platform for sharing of various social, political, economic, and ideological views against the rule of Rajapaksas.
However, President Wickremesinghe noted in an announcement during a visit to Kandy a week ago that the anti-government protest movement, which was organic at first, had been hijacked by subversive or anarchic elements seeking to further destabilise the country.
Following the police announcement, several trade union activists and protesters said it was illegal and violated their Constitutional rights.
"If the UDA has authority over the Galle Face Green, they must issue an order to remove the protest site. We will not comply with the police order," said Mr Mahinda Jayasinghe, general secretary of the Ceylon Teachers' Service Union (CTSU).
Many who had remained for nearly four months had already left the site following the police announcement.