SJB May Day Rally Mess: Crowd Walks Out on Premadasa

COLOMBO (News 1st); Tension erupted at the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB)'s May Day rally at the P.D. Sirisena Stadium in Maligawatta today (1), where party leader Sajith Premadasa addressed a thinning crowd amid reports of supporters walking out and a heavy-handed blockade against media coverage.

Eyewitness accounts and social media footage captured the unusual scene: as Premadasa took the stage, large numbers of attendees began streaming out of the venue, leaving sections of the stadium visibly empty. The rally, intended as a show of worker solidarity, quickly drew scrutiny not just for the exodus but for what journalists described as deliberate obstruction of press access.

Unlike other political parties and trade unions, which freely allowed media coverage of their May Day events across the country, SJB organizers reportedly barred reporters and photographers from the Maligawatta event. Daily Mirror, an English-language outlet, documented the incident, stating that media personnel were aggressively pushed back and prevented from filming or photographing the proceedings.

"Journalists manhandled, barred from usual coverage at SJB May Day rally," the Daily Mirror reported, highlighting that "media were always allowed to stay at the front and cover all the rallies in the past but today the situation was different as the media were chased away towards the back."