Colombo: Former Sri Lankan army chief, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, has urged the people to take to the streets to denounce police attacks on peaceful demonstrators.
Fonseka, a leader of the main opposition party SJB, was quoted as saying in the media on Friday that Sri Lankans should learn from England “if they want to see democracy and righteousness upheld in this country”.
Participating in a debate in Parliament, Fonseka said on Thursday that a Sri Lankan expatriate doctor in London had called him and lamented that people were not taking to the streets against the police and anti-riot squads attacking protesting undergraduates.
“It was so sad to watch the police and anti-riot squads beating protesters… People should not look while the police are attacking their fellow countrymen. I was told that if such a thing happened in England, citizens would have taken to the streets and remained there until the IGP resigned.
“I call on Lankan people to learn from the British,” he said.
Fonseka was the Sri Lankan army chief when the Tamil Tigers were militarily crushed in 2009. Subsequently, he had a political fallout with then President Mahinda Rajapaksa and then Defence Secretary, and later President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
