Monday 19th October, 2026

Buddhist monks’ Satyagraha at Viharamahadevi Park, seeking the release of Ven. Galaboda Atte Gnanasara Thera from prison, took a dramatic turn on Saturday evening with a confrontation between protesters and the police. Ven. Balangoda Kassapa Thera, one of the monks leading the protest, was rushed to the Colombo National Hospital. Subsequently, he had himself moved to a private hospital, claiming that he feared for his life. He has been in the government’s crosshairs due to his active involvement in protests.

Satyagraha activists insist that a group of policemen led by an ASP roughed up Kassapa Thera. Police Spokesman ASP F. U. Wootler lost no time in denying the allegation, claiming that Kassapa Thera had ‘slipped and fallen’. The police cannot expect the discerning public to buy into their claims, and cynics say they do not believe anything until the police deny it. It may be recalled that ASP Wootler has been found guilty of violating fundamental rights of a lawyer and ordered to pay compensation from his personal funds.

He that hath an ill name is half-hanged, as the old saying goes. One may recall that when rugby player Wasim Thajudeen was found dead in his car in 2012, the police promptly claimed that he had died in an accident. They ruled out foul play. But subsequently they admitted that Thajudeen had been murdered. In 2018, the CID blamed former LTTE combatants for the killing of two policemen on duty in Vavunathivu and made some arrests. Later, they admitted that the National Thowheed Jamaath, which carried out the Easter Sunday bombings, had murdered the two constables. Thugs armed with clubs and iron rods freely operated in full view of the police during President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government, and when this was taken up at a media briefing, the then Police Spokesman had the chutzpah to deny the allegation, claiming that they may have carried ‘sticks’ to ward off street dogs. So much for the police and their claims.

It is often said that the truth is the first casualty of war. The same holds true for other conflicts as well. So, we can’t expect both sides to the current dispute between Buddhist monks and the government to tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Only a thorough, impartial investigation will help ascertain what really happened on Saturday evening at Viharamahadevi Park, leading to Kassapa Thera’s hospitalisation. The government must order a probe into the alleged assault incident.

Self-righteous Opposition politicians are trying to dupe the public into believing that the police neither committed excesses nor engaged in political work under their watch. Crackdowns on protests are not of recent origin, and the police have acted like storm troopers under successive governments. The police have a shameful history of doing dirty work for all governments and allowing ruling party thugs to operate alongside them during previous governments. But the fact that police excesses are not unprecedented does not justify suppressing people’s right to stage peaceful protests under the incumbent administration.

The JVP thrived on protests and capitalised on the 2022 Aragalaya to propel itself to power. At the height of the uprising, it also sought to lead protesters in a bid to capture Parliament, but failed. Today, the JVP/NPP is practising the very antithesis of what it preached and did while out of power. Many of the monks engaged in the current Satyagraha at Viharamahadevi Park campaigned hard for the JVP/NPP, enabling its swift rise to power, in 2024.

The police have urged the public to refrain from sharing unverified videos of Saturday’s incident via social media to discredit them. One cannot but agree that social media must not be abused to disseminate disinformation. But shouldn’t the police first take action against government propagandists who are carrying out social media disinformation campaigns with impunity?

Coercive measures the current administration adopts to discourage protests and the aggressive manner in which the police enforce them could offer a foretaste of what is to come if the proposed Protection of State from Terrorism law, criticised by human rights groups for its draconian features, if enacted.