Opposition Protestors Rumble in Colombo

Supporters of former army commander General Sarath Fonseka throw rocks at supporters of President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo.

• It was a typical hot, balmy day in Colombo when protestors supporting Sarath Fonseka, the retired general and defeated presidential candidate now under arrest and facing court marshal, gathered near the Supreme Court complex in the capital Colombo.

Trouble was in the air. Another group was mingling near the statue of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa, holding posters of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The opposition had scheduled to hold a protest — the first of many according to organizers — demanding the release of Fonseka near the statue. Police, some in riot gear and with water canons at the ready, stationed themselves between the two groups to prevent any clash. (Read a 2-minute bio of Fonseka.)
As the Fonseka supporters moved near the yellow barricades set up by the police, their shouts grew louder. They pushed, they shoved and they pleaded with police to let them pass. The pleading and the shouting went on for awhile, while some 100 meters away, on a small grassy knoll, another crowd had gathered, armed with stones, bottles and sticks. They were eyeing each other ominously, until the pro-Fonseka crowd grew in number and in noise and pushed the barricade down. They marched towards the knoll and stones, bottles, sticks began flying first at them and then from them as clashes erupted between the two crowds.
General Sarath Fonseka, the defeated candidate in Sri Lanka's recent presidential election, was arrested by military police at his home in Colombo on the night of Feb. 8 on charges of plotting to overthrow the government while still in service, harbouring army deserters and corruption. The Feb. 8 arrest was the culmination of two weeks of tension and charge-trading between the government and Fonseka camps. On Jan. 26, hundreds of armed troops surrounded Fonseka and his team inside a five star hotel in Colombo on the eve of the election. The government has declined to disclose where the general is being held, citing security reasons, though his family and lawyers have been given access to him, according to the media minister. (Watch a video about the final days of Sri Lanka's civil war.)
Windscreens on police vehicles shattered as large stones hit them. Numbers on their side, the Fonseka supporters started chasing their attackers through narrow alleyways of the city center, while high-ranking police officers gave the orders to launch the water cannons and the tear gas. By around noon, the main road leading to the country's highest court resembled a small battle field. The thuds of gas rifles echoed thorough the government housing complex nearby as police tried to stop Fonseka supporters in their chase. The clashes left eight injured, though none seriously.
In the end, a crowd of some 2500 Fonseka supporters converged in front of the court complex, joined by leaders of opposition parties and Anoma Fonseka, wife of the general. During her husband's run for the presidency, Anoma made few appearances on the stump, but after his arrest, she has come to foreground. A day after his arrest, she tearfully met the media. "Why is he treated like this?" she asked tearfully. "He is a war hero, and now he is in jail." Fonseka's 40-year career culminated with the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May 2009, and brought to an end the bloody separatist war of over two and half decades.
Today, Anoma was more composed, drawing the largest and loudest cheers from the crowds. "These protestors have come here without us forcing them," opposition parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera told TIME. "The fight for democracy is not dead." The opposition leaders surrounding the general's wife, too, vowed to continue to protest his arrest. "This is just the beginning. We will not stop until justice is done," said Somawansha Amarasinghe, the leader of the People's Liberation Front, a prominent opposition party that supported Fonseka in his campaign.
The government has maintained that the general has been taken into custody following correct procedure. Under Army Act, section 57, any retired officer or soldier is considered a military officer for six months [after retirement]," media minister Lakshman Yapa Abeyawardena told reporters today. Fonseka retired from the post of Chief of Defence Staff on November 12 last year. The government minister also warned that until court proceedings are concluded, any public expression of opinion over the matter is prohibited. "The opposition is trying to get innocent civilians onto the streets to achieve their political ends. They should not put innocent lives at risk," the government minister said.
Lawyers representing Fonseka are planning to petition the Supreme Court challenging his arrest and seeking a decision declaring the poll null and void, Tissa Athanayake the general secretary of the United National Party said. The opposition has already raised objections with the Elections Commissioner over vote rigging, but commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake has since declared the elections, that president Mahinda Rajapaksa won by a majority of 1.8 million votes, as fair.
One protest, however fiery is unlikely set off any tremors. Colombo was back to business soon after the protest was over. The traffic was once again bad, the buses were belching, and the heat unbearable. Die-hard Fonseka supporters have vowed to continue the protests that have yet to gain the support of wider civil society groups. "We will go on. We will not stop 'til our general is given back to us," Vinni Siegera, a middle aged woman who had come without any invitation to the rally told TIME, sweat beads pouring from a her forehead. The next few days will make it clear whether those like her will have wider support in the country.