Clamp down on protests at your peril

Very ugly scenes were witnessed at the Galle Face Green a couple of days ago when the police arrested several protestors, some with very young children who had gathered to commemorate the people killed during the island-wide protests that toppled previous President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 

It has been the modus operandi of President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s administration to crackdown on all forms of civil disobedience and protests using the flimsiest shreds of the law against those who are expressing their displeasure over the current state of affairs. Some of the ridiculous among these were the arrests of the person who sat on a chair at the president’s office, another person who bathed in the residential pool and even the individual who counted and handed over millions of rupees in money to the Police during the Aragalaya. Now the Wickremesinghe administration has moved on to arresting parents with toddlers at their feet in the full glare of television cameras and media personnel. While these intimidation tactics may initially seem laughable, the clampdown on peaceful protests is not.

These acts of intimidation have been noted by the international community. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in a damning report last month noted that the Government and security forces have “on some significant occasions employed unnecessary use of force against protestors and used measures to prevent or obstruct protests. Journalists have also been targeted for their reporting on the crisis and protests.” Similar concerns have been expressed by several UN Special Rapporteurs and other democratic governments.

In the wake of growing international pressure, the Government has assured at numerous fora that rights of peaceful protests will not be curtailed. Foreign Minister Ali Sabry addressing the UN General Assembly last month said that his Government “unconditionally recognise the fact that one has a fundamental right to the freedom of expression, which we all treat as being sacrosanct.” Such assurances have little value, and the world is seeing through the hypocrisy and bad faith engagement of the Government.

According to international laws and democratic norms, acts of civil disobedience involving the premeditated breaking of a domestic law for reasons of conscience are not criminal acts. These could in times such as these be effective ways to raise awareness, express social or political dissent or to bring about change. Amnesty International notes that such acts of civil disobedience can include a range of activities such as rallies, demonstrations, media stunts, sit-ins and other tactics that may break a domestic law with the intention of bringing about change using methods of disruption through direct and non-violent means.

The actions of the Government are bound to have a negative impact both domestically and internationally. By stiffening expression, the Government is fermenting public anger which has the risk of being expressed in more violent ways. This should particularly concern an administration that does not have a popular mandate or legitimacy. President Ranil Wickremesinghe was not elected by the people and the party which now supports him was overwhelmingly rejected through the island-wide protests in the last few months.

The international repercussions of curtailing people’s freedoms are also significant. At a time when Sri Lanka requires international assistance from many quarters to recover from the economic crisis, the last thing any foreign government or partner agency would want is to have an administration that does not respect the basic rights of its people.

There are no good outcomes for the current administration by preventing peaceful protests. It is in its own interest to desist from doing so. If these warnings are not heeded, the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration will suffer the same outcome of its predecessor.