Human Rights Watch reported that the Sri Lankan government is using emergency law to harass and arbitrarily detain activists seeking political reform and accountability for the country’s economic crisis.
Ever since Ranil Wickramasinghe was sworn in as President on July 21, protesters, civil society activists, lawyers, journalists have been threatened, searched and arbitrarily arrested.
Activists arrested by police and army
According to the statement issued by the Human Rights Watch, the police and the army are trying to suppress the protests.
Due to the anti-government protests in Colombo and other parts of the country, then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had to flee the country. After that, he resigned on July 15.
Ranil ordered the soldiers
Ranil Wickramasinghe was sworn in as the new president on July 20. In this case, on the 22nd, he ordered the security forces to disperse the protestors and break up their positions in the middle of Colombo.
The Human Rights Watch has said that the police have been targeting the leaders involved in the protests and have been engaged in arrests and detentions.