Sri Lanka’s speaker of parliament has called upon the public to “peacefully accept” the Supreme Court decision to stay the dissolution of parliament, as the political crisis in Colombo continued on Tuesday.
In a special statement, speaker of parliament Karu Jayasuriya said,
“It is important that the general public and especially persons in positions of responsibility conduct themselves in a calm and dignified manner in order to avoid unnecessary provocation and instability”.
“I ask Sri Lankans to peacefully accept the determinations of the judiciary and Parliament”.
The statement praised the Supreme Court decision to temporarily stay Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena’s move to dissolve parliament, with Jayasuriya saying “the public can take pride in our judiciary”.
Jayasuriya’s statement comes after Sirisena met with heads of the military earlier this evening, in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.
UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe called on the Sri Lankan police, which had previously stated it would follow orders from Sirisena, to adhere to Jayasuriya’s demands.
See the full statement below.
