Politic-Economic-Society-Tech

Live Ammo Kills Sri Lanka Protester

Sri Lankan opposition parties condemned the government on Friday for ordering police and soldiers to halt a pro-democracy march after doctors said live ammunition killed at least one protester. 

The government posted soldiers with automatic weapons on the streets Thursday, backing police who said they used tear gas and rubber bullets to block thousands of opposition-led demonstrators from marching into central Colombo to protest the suspension of Parliament. 

"We condemn the government for using the police to attack unarmed people," Tyronne Fernando, a member of the main opposition United National Party, said Friday. 

Doctors at the two main hospitals said 70 people were wounded by rubber bullets and batons and two protesters were killed. 

"One of the victims was shot through the neck and jaw and death was caused by an injury to the spine from live ammunition," Judicial Medical Officer Dr. L. De Alwis said Friday. 

"He was killed by live bullets," said De Alwis, who is assigned by the Health Ministry to conduct autopsies when crimes are suspected. 

He said an autopsy on the second victim would be conducted later Friday. 

Colombo's deputy inspector general of police, D. Ignatius, said the deaths were being investigated. 

The United National Party called the protest against President Chandrika Kumaratunga's suspension of Parliament on July 11. She took the action hours after the opposition gathered enough support for a no-confidence vote, which she was likely to lose. 

Opposition parties that did not participate in Thursday's demonstration condemned the government for attacking protesters. 

"We urge all democratic forces to get together to defeat the government," said the Peoples' Freedom Front, a Marxist party. 

"President Kumaratunga is heading toward total dictatorship," said the nationalist Sinhalese Heritage party. 

Police and soldiers have wide powers of arrest in Sri Lanka, under laws meant at curb rebels who have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland in the north and east for minority Tamils in the Indian Ocean island nation of 18.6 million people. 

Independent newspapers also criticized the government on Friday. 

"The severe retaliatory measures deployed by the government indicated that opposition toward the new moves were a serious challenge to the government," said The Island. "It could well be that those in power are retaliating through fear." 

The state-run Daily News accused the protesters of inciting police retaliation. 

"It is this destructive militancy which engulfed the city in chaos and brought tears and groans among citizenry," the Daily News said. "Law enforcement officers were compelled to use force to bring the situation under control." 


source: Las Vegas SUN, 20.07.2001