Paralyzed by protests
By a Staff Reporter- Thursday, 16 May 2013

Colombo, the nerve-centre of commercial activity in the country, was totally paralyzed yesterday for several hours as people swamped the streets from Borella to Fort and Lake House Roundabout to Fort, in a series of protests.

More than 10,000 people, representing some 200 trade unions, marched from Borella to Fort under the banner of the People’s Movement Against the Increased Electricity Bill (PMAIEB) and the pro-government trade unions held another march from Lake House to Fort.

PMAIEB protesters said the march was the first step towards abolishing the recently introduced electricity tariff plan and threatened to topple the government, if it failed to address the concerns of the people.

Pro-government protesters claimed they were marching to question those who try to destroy the progress of the country.

The government-sanctioned protest, which commenced at the Lake House Roundabout, ended at the same destination as the anti-government protest.

Confrontation was avoided by the police, who managed to prevent the two protest bodies from meeting in front of the Fort Railway Station by ensuring that they arrived there at separate times.

Earlier attempts made by the police to restrict the anti-government protest march to the Maradana Technical Junction failed, as the masses continued to march towards Fort.

Addressing the crowd in front of the Fort Railway Station, President of the Government Workers’ Trade Union Federation (GWTUF), D.M.D. Abeyratne, said the union will have another meeting today (16) to decide on the future course of actions to abolish the new tariff.

“We tell the government the people of this country have taken to the streets to abolish this electricity plan. The GWTUF will continuously work toward achieving this goal,” he said.

Attorney-at-Law, Chandrapala Kumarage, representing the Lawyers for Democracy said, “This is just the first step against a government that has suppressed the people of the North as well as the South for so long.”

President of the Government Nursing Officers’ Association (GNOA), Saman Ratnapriya, charged, “Under the pretext of providing relief against the increased bill for a section of society, the government stood to make a further Rs 214 million for themselves.”

Referring to the simultaneous protest march organized by the pro-government trade unions and organizations, he said, “We taught the henchmen of the government a valuable lesson, and they haven’t been able to interfere in our protest actions, as was hoped.”

Ministers, Dinesh Gunawardane and Kumara Welgama, and Western Province Governor, Alawi Maulana, were among the politicians who addressed the crowd that marched in support of the increased electricity bill.