Police attack on students throws House into turmoil

By Saman Indrajith-November 3, 2015, 9:52 pm 

Opposition MPs shouting slogans and holding placards inside the chamber against last week’s attack on a group of protesting students in Colombo threw Parliament into turmoil yesterday.

All hell broke loose when MEP leader Dinesh Gunawardena got up, demanding to know why the government had prevented university students from visiting Parliament yesterday. "Former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa allowed the people to visit Parliament because it is a right of the general public to come here and see what is happening here. But, today, the police and the military have been deployed to prevent students from coming to Parliament to meet us."

At that point Opposition MPs got up holding placards which read, "Let’s condemn Yahapalana police attack on students," and "Down with Ranil’s police thugs!" They chanted anti-government slogans. The MPs who protested against the preventing of students from visiting parliament yesterday were Dinesh Gunawardena, Bandula Gunawardena,Wimal Weerawansa, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Kumara Welgama, Dullas Alahapperuma, Weerakumara Dissanayake, Niroshan Premaratne, Udaya Gammanpila, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Gamini Lokuge, Jayantha Samaraweera, Rohitha Abegunawardena, Lohan Ratwatte, Roshan Ranasinghe, Namal Rajapaksa, Prasanna Ranaweera, Prasanna Ranatunga, S.M. Chandrasena, Sisira Jayakody, Keheliya Rambukwella and C.B. Ratnayake.

Speaker Karu Jayassuriya called for order in the House and asked the Opposition MPs to take their seats but the protesters kept standing and shouting.

Amidst the commotion, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that if MP Gunawardena wanted to see visiting university students, the visitors should follow the procedures. "You have to give the number and names of students who want to visit Parliament. Then we can permit them. I am also glad to meet them here and talk to them. There is no issue. But, who are shouting today? What is this joint opposition? There is an Opposition leader as well a Chief Opposition Whip. Then what is this joint Opposition? You have to clarify that to this House," the Premier said.

Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan raised the issue of police attack on students making a special statement. JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, too, condemned the incident.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said that HNDA issue was not of recent origin and blamed the previous governments for not taking meaningful action to sort out the problem once and for all. "I am happy that the Opposition Leader took up this issue and is raising the problems of the students of south as well. But there are some facts we should not forget. We can recall how students were shot at Rathupaswala. How the students were killed at Muttur. The previous regime engaged in suppression of students. I am aware of the problems faced by the HNDA students and have an understanding of their grievances."

JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake: "It seems the Prime Minister is well aware of the grievances and problems of the HNDA students. If so why were the HNDA students beaten mercilessly?

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe did not respond.