Right to protest in a peaceful manner must be respected - BASL

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) notes that there is an escalation of the situation in the vicinity of Parliament where protesters have gathered.

"We are informed that there is a heavy presence of police and service personnel in the vicinity. We have also reports of persons attending the protest being subject to arrest and detention in the vicinity," said the BASL in a statement.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka calls upon all concerned including the Government, the Inspector General of Police and all police officers and the armed forces to act with utmost restraint.

It should be noted that those engaged in lawful exercise of their right to protest cannot be arrested. We re-iterate once more that the right of the public to protest in a peaceful manner must be respected and upheld. We also stress that such protests must be at all time peaceful, the BASL added.