A demonstration was organised by a group in protest of the initiation of the Southern Development Project and the proposed leasing of the Hambantota Port to a Chinese firm.
On Friday police has obtained court order. The Hambantota Magistrate’s Court on Friday issued a restraining order against 27 parties from protesting adjacent to the Hambantota Port on Saturday.
On Saturday (7) under the patronage of Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe the Southern Development Project in Hambantota was opened . There were mayhem and violence created by a group of people said to have been brought from Colombo by the Joint Opposition.
38 suspects were arrested for behaving in an unruly manner during the opening of the Southern Development Project on Saturday .
They will be produced before the Hambantota Magistrate’s Court once again today.
The suspects were arrested on charges of violating a Court order and causing damages to public property.
Another 13 suspects who were arrested and remanded yesterday over the incident, will be produced before Court on Wednesday.
At least ten MPs of the Joint Opposition (JO) would be taken into custody during the next couple of days for instigating violence and staging protests in Hambantota in violation of a court order banning demonstrations.
The MPs had been identified by a special team of policemen who scrutinised the video footage of the protest march. Some of the MPs had been identified for instigating violence and leading the protestors to attack policemen on duty, the officer said.
Police had obtained video clips from private media organisations to identify the leaders of the protests. In addition to the MPs a large number of other persons too had been identified for arrest and they too would be taken into custody in the coming days, the senior police officer said.
Several persons had already been taken into custody by the Hambantota police and they were being questioned and their statements were being recorded for the further investigations, the officer said, adding that among those in the custody were former local government members and ex-chairmen of Pradeshiya Sabhas.
