Sri Lankan police break up ‘Black Lives Matter’ protest in Colombo

by Thusiyan
Jun 9, 2020

Clashes broke out between protestors and Sri Lankan security forces in Colombo earlier today as the police broke up a ‘Black Lives Matter’ demonstration.

Security forces had attempted to stop the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) organised protest, after they obtained a court order yesterday stating it could not be held due to coronavirus concerns.

The US Embassy in Sri Lankan clarified that it “did not request the demonstration be blocked” but added “as always, we appreciate the efforts undertaken by the Government of Sri Lanka and local law enforcement to keep diplomatic personnel and facilities in the country safe”.

Despite the court order several dozen protestors gathered outside the US embassy, where a heavy security presence was in place.

Clashes broke out between protestors and the Sri Lankan police, with reports that up to ten activists were arrested.

Add new comment

About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.

Restricted HTML

  • You can align images (data-align="center"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • You can caption images (data-caption="Text"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
  • You can embed media items (using the <drupal-media> tag).

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

link button