Democracy And Freedom, Medamulana-Style
“…the tradition of giving pretty names to ugly things is as old as warfare.” - Christopher Hitchens (Arguably)
Organised mobs are important weapons in the Rajapaksa armoury.
An organised mob was deployed on Tuesday to prevent Channel 4 journalists from travelling to the North[i]. For hours, two trains were stuck at the Anuradhapura station because the rail tracks were occupied by “nearly a thousand supporters of North Central Provincial Council Chief Minister and supporters of his brother Deputy Minister SM Chandrasena”[ii]. Though the regime had imposed a ban on demonstrations ahead of the Commonwealth, the police gave the mob a veritable carte blanche. “The demonstration was also joined by several Buddhist monks affiliated to the government… (And) was organised under the leadership of the NCP Chief Minister’s Public Coordinating Officer T Upasena and Coordinating Secretary of Deputy Minister Chandrasekara, Nilantha Ekanayake, reports add”[iii].
Another organised mob was deployed to ‘protest’ outside the UNP Headquarters where a meeting highlighting human rights-violations by the regime was taking place. Earlier the authorities had prevented members of the ‘Families of the Disappeared’ from travelling to Colombo[iv]. But the mob outside ‘Sirikotha’ was allowed to burn tires, destroy UNP decorations and attack Ranil Wickremesinghe’s vehicle, while the police watched in silence.
