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Monday, 22 January 2018 01:49 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Chathuri DissanayakePolice deployed the Special Task Force and police personnel to control violent protests in Kataragama that erupted after a police shooting on Saturday night killed one person riding a motorcycle.
Police fired tear gas to disperse crowds and arrested 58 persons for disrupting public peace, blocking access to the Kataragama-Tissamaharama road and injuring police officers on duty, Police Spokesperson SSP Ruwan Gunesekara told the Daily FT.
According to some reports, close to 25 policemen have sustained injuries when residents threw stones at them as demonstration turned violent for the second time at noon yesterday.
Police are now conducting three separate investigations, including a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe, into incidents that have occurred since Saturday night following the shooting by the policeman, SSP Gunesekara revealed.
By evening last night the situation was brought under control, he said.
Violence erupted early Saturday morning when a pillion rider, later identified to be a worker of the Kataragama Pradeshiya Sabha, was pronounced dead after police shot at the motorcycle he was travelling on after it failed to heed an order from two patrol officers to stop. The victim, who sustained gunshot wounds to the head, was pronounced dead on admission to the hospital.
Following the incident, a large mob attacked the Kataragama police station in retaliation, causing major damage to property. A violent mob which initially verbally abused the policemen later pelted the area’s police station and the official residence of the Officer-in-Charge with stones, damaging property. Further, four police posts within the ‘Kataragama Puja Nagaraya’ were also attacked and property was vandalised.
Additional Police personnel were deployed early Sunday morning to control the situation and tear gas was fired to disperse the crowds. However, the situation escalated again Sunday afternoon even after arrests were made and the policeman responsible for the shooting was remanded.
The police officer arrested over the shooting in Kataragama on Saturday night has been remanded until 30 January by the Tissamaharama Acting Magistrate.
A team of CID officers has been deployed from Colombo to investigate the shooting.
“They will also look into possible links to drug peddling as well,” Gunesekara said.
Last Wednesday a team of policemen involved in a night time raid of a cannabis farm was attacked by a wild elephant, causing the group to flee. The Police lost a weapon in the incident.
Two separate investigations have also commenced to identify and charge culprits who were responsible for attacking the Kataragama police station early on Sunday morning and the incident in the afternoon of the same day.
Pix by K. D. Devapriya
