Police use tear gas to breakup monks' protest in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 June 2005, 12:34 GMT]
More than hundred policemen Monday evening around 2.30 PM fired tear gas and used water canons to disperse monks and university students who were protesting in front of Colombo Fort railway station in support of Ven. Dambara Amila Thera, the leader of the extremist National Bhikku Front (NBF), who started a new fast unto death campaign on Saturday against the Joint Mechanism. Ven Amila Thera was forcibly removed from the location by the Police and rushed to the Colombo General hospital where he is being treated for exhaustion, medical sources said.




Some students from the Kelaniya and Jayawardenapura Universities who joined the fast in support of the monk and around forty of their colleagues who were marching from the Fort railway station to the President's official residence were also taken into custody by the police.

Police used baton charge and tear gas to disperse the crowd. The traffic in the city of Colombo came to a snarl for several hours due to the police action at the Fort railway station area.

Civilans standing at the Fort railway station and the busstand dispersed in panic when Police confronted the crowd using their batons and water cannon, sources said.