Ranil overnight lost credibility of being a liberal leader – Champika

Galle Face protestors expelled the Rajapaksa trio from power and paved the way for democracy, enabling MP Ranil Wickremesinghe to become the president, but what he did was to send the military and the police to wage a barbaric attack on those very same protestors, said MP Patali Champika Ranawaka.

At a media briefing, Ranawaka strongly denounced this dawn’s attack and demanded the Wickremesinghe government accept responsibility.

Wickremesinghe overnight lost his 45 years of credibility of being a democratic, liberal leader, earned the anger of all national and international friends of democracy and brought disgrace to the country, he charged.

This incident is the same as the attack unleashed by the Rajapaksa family thugs in May, said Ranawaka.

Urging the president to keep in mind as to why this struggle came to be, the MP remarked that there may have been minor differences and signs of violence amongst the protestors, but that attacking them was uncivilized and despicable at a time when the suffering masses should be shown sympathy.

It is wholly inappropriate to earn the wrath, instead of building consensus among the parties, forming an all-party government, extending democratic boundaries and extending the hands to international lenders, said Ranawaka.

Actually, most of the peaceful protestors had been planning to vacate the protest site and there was more than enough space to ensure their departure through a peaceful process of negotiation, he said.

Ranawaka asked if they had been brutally repressed in order to give wings to anti-democratic forces who dream of an armed revolution.

History has shown that every time such repressions were unleashed both in the North and the South, armed responses made matters worse, the MP pointed out, leaving thousands murdered, tens of thousands fleeing the country and the lives of many generations left in darkness.

Ranawaka said he was shocked to see the Rajapaksas using the president they brought to power to release the wicked repression they were unable to unleash.

Instead of using the military to attack the protestors or take them before courts, what should be done is to prosecute the political family that took the country to bankruptcy and the group that harboured them, including the former Central Bank governor and the former secretaries to the Treasury, and ensure justice.

Describing today as a day of darkness, he urged all democratic forces in the country, including professionals and religious leaders, to unite unconditionally and journey towards the next democratic revolution.