End the Crackdown on Peaceful Protest
President Ranil Wickremesinghe must act to immediately stop the repression, intimidation and reprisals against peaceful protesters.
The Sri Lankan authorities have fiercely clamped down on protests and demonized protesters during a period of economic crisis and hardship in the country.
The government responded to largely peaceful protests with excessive and unnecessary force and emergency laws giving sweeping powers to the police and the armed forces, in an effort to curb further demonstrations. Since widespread protests began in March 2022, the police and armed forces have routinely misused tear gas and water cannons against largely peaceful protesters. On two occasions, security forces fired live ammunition at protesters, killing at least one person on April 19.
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Watch a short video about protest in Sri Lanka
Top image: policeman fires a tear gas canister to disperse protesters during the 50th day of anti-government protests demanding the resignation of Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the country’s crippling economic crisis, in Colombo on May 28, 2022. Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP via Getty Images.
