Minister Tiran Alles was confronted by senior police officers when he directed them to take immediate action to keep the city free of protests, agitations, etc.
The minister faced tough resistance from the most senior police officers when he said that the city should be free of such agitations from now on and that urgent measures should be adopted to disperse them if there were any.
Senior Superintendent of Police Marapana told the minister that it would not be possible if the protests were organised through legitimate means.
The minister was meeting with senior police officers, including the Inspector General of Police.
Minister Alles summoned a high-profile meeting of the Inspector General of Police CD Wickramaratna, Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Western Province Deshabandu Tennakoon, Deputy Inspectors General of Police, and Senior Superintendents of Police in charge of Colombo division to the Ministry of Public Security in Battaramulla yesterday (15).
Minister Tiran Alas has told them that the government has taken a policy decision to ban any protest in Colombo city from now on.
Senior Superintendent of Police Marapana expressed his point of view on the matter and questioned how he could disperse or prevent a lawful rally or demonstration.
The visibly angry minister told him to leave if he could not do it. The minister has also said that it was a decision of the president.
This conversation has become quite heated, where the Senior Superintendent of Police has repeatedly emphasized that he does not believe that the president would make such an order and should be queried about it, pointing out that taking measures to suppress these protests outside the law may also cause embarrassment to the government.
The meeting was called off abruptly when the senior police officers confronted the minister.
