The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has demanded an explanation from the IGP for Sunday’s police violence at Galle Face Green against people, including children, who were peacefully commemorating those who had fallen in the Aragalaya.
The HRCSL decided to launch an investigation of its own volition and has given the IGP 24 hours to explain on what grounds police dispersed the commemoration.
Footage of police brutality against two small children who had come with their parents to Galle Face Green has gone viral on social media worldwide and has led to severe condemnation of the police and the Government of Sri Lanka. The footage shows a little girl clinging to her mother and screaming as police tried to tear the child away, and a father desperately holding his little son aloft above his head to prevent police from snatching the child. A 16-year-old boy who was also detained by police was released on Sunday (9) night, with no explanation from police as to why the child had been arrested.
Four adults who were arrested at Galle Face Green on Sunday (9) were released on personal bail of Rs. 500,000/- each by the Fort Magistrate on Monday (10).
A group of citizens organized the commemoration in remembrance of activists who lost their lives contributing to the Aragalaya since the 9th of April. However even before the demonstration began, hundreds of heavily armed police intervened and a heated situation arose.
