About 750 tourists from France are scheduled to visit the Yala National Park from tomorrow, and the Yala Jeep driver’s union was warned by the Police that there would be imminent arrest if the protest against the tourist visit by the Police the union secretary Sampath Galappaththi told Lankasara.
He further said that he had been summoned to the Kirinda police station yesterday (0) to give a statement over a Facebook post he had posted protesting against the tourists visit in a situation where the country has been closed due to the Covid epidemic. When he went to the Police, he was informed by the O.I.C of Kirinda Police Station that they were ordered to arrest such protesters under quarantine regulations.
Mr. Sampath Galappaththi further commented on this.
“At the moment, the country is in a background where strict traffic laws are being enforced. We have seen in the media a situation where even medical professors bow down and ask the government not to bring tourists under any circumstances in such a situation. In such a backdrop, the government is going to bring in a group of tourists. The Yala National Park, which is currently closed, is to be reopened from tomorrow on special order by the Director-General of Wildlife. It is said that several groups of 90 people a day will visit several parks such as Yala, Udawalawe, Minneriya, and Kaudulla for several days. 23 jeeps have been selected for them to travel inside the park for tourists coming to Yala. They are selected based on their political affiliations.
That is not the problem we have. We opposed the country’s opening to an unnecessary danger at this moment, learning lessons from the Ukrainian tourists we had brought earlier. But we cannot go to protest now. If you go out, you have to be arrested. The OIC informed that should all the driving members of our Jeep Association. He added.
