As the average daily death toll due to COVID surpasses 100, the country’s police have announced that they will begin arresting individuals for not wearing masks in public.
The announcement comes after the release of a damning Human Rights Watch report which highlights how Sri Lanka’s police have exploited the pandemic to excuse abuses which include arbitrary detention, police brutality, and extrajudicial killings.
It also follows the Government’s refusal to follow the advice of World Health Organisation officials and its own Medical Association which has called for an official lockdown to avert the deaths of an estimated 18,000 deaths by January.
Instead, the government has imposed an inter-regional travel ban with exemptions for “banking, tourism, ports, apparel sectors and essential services”. The Government has also announced that from 15 September, vaccination cards (verifying the individual has been fully vaccinated), will be required when entering public places, like hotels and restaurants.
Read more here: Sri Lanka refuses lockdown but imposes inter-provincial travel ban
Sri Lanka’s State Minister has since claimed that the government would be willing to enter a lockdown if requested by medical experts. However, he also criticised that there were some “individuals who act as a cat's paw for political forces and come out with suggestions to go for lockdown”.
Tamil homeland hit worst
Despite this police notification, Tamil’s across the North-East have been routinely subject to police intimidation and arrests for allegedly “violating COVID regulations” and not wearing masks. In May Sri Lankan officers arrested 50 people in Jaffna and were filmed dragging people away.
Read more here: Sri Lanka police shown dragging Tamils in Jaffna
Villages across the North-East reportedly not receiving promised aid from the government. Last week, villagers of Uppukulam, Mannar, reported that they had been left without their state-designated aid and that such aid was only provided to a few favoured personnel instead.
Last month, Mannar district council member, Anthonyamma Sritharan, blasted the government’s mismanagement of aid noting that families were pushed to the brink of starvation as they were receiving half of their promised rations, and also receiving the items up to 10-12 days into their quarantine period.
Amnesty International has also released a damning report highlighting issues of patronage and favour in Sri Lanka’s COVID response.
Read more here: Amnesty International slams Sri Lanka's discriminatory COVID-19 response
Read more here.
