Intelligence units thwarted unrest at Welikada prison - state minister

COLOMBO (News1st): Intelligence units had thwarted planned unrest at the Welikada prison before it unfolded at the Mahara prison on Monday, state minister Jayantha Samaraweera has said. "...plans were afoot to make the prisoners kill each other and then portray this to the world as a grave human rights violation of the government," the state minister told reporters on Friday. He added that inmates at the Welikada prison had refused to consume a pill that would make them blood-thirsty, unlike the Mahara prison inmates who consumed the tablet. Monday's unrest at the Mahara prison killed eleven and injured more than 100 including two officers. Nine deceased inmates had contracted COVID-19, requiring to be cremated under the law. "When the government cremates their bodies we will not know whether they were killed by stab wounds or gunshot wounds," Thushara Indunil, an opposition parliamentarian said. Government lawmakers have denied that the prisoners had died after prison officers opened gunfire, but when scuffles broke out between the inmates after consuming the pill that invoked violent behaviour. "Instead of suppressing the spread of the virus, the government is more focused on suppressing the people using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse," Indunil stressed.