Sri Lanka deploys huge security for funeral

Photo courtesy: vikalpa.org

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Sri Lanka deployed massive security for the funeral on Saturday of a protester killed earlier in the week while demonstrating against a controversial pensions bill.

Troops in full-battle dress took up positions along the funeral route and surrounded a Catholic church where a service was held for slain factory worker Roshen Ratnasekera before burial.

Officials said a local magistrate had issued an order banning any political speeches at the funeral. The authorities had feared that opposition political parties could use the police killing to fuel anti-government protests.

Mourning factory workers were also prevented from entering the area in buses in a bid to prevent organised gatherings, officials said.

Sri Lanka is ruled under a state of emergency which allows the deployment of troops to maintain law and order and gives authorities the legal power to crack down on what they believe to be anti-state activities.

Troops were also deployed to shift his coffin to a church ahead of schedule.

"The cortege was supposed to leave the home in the afternoon but troops came in and removed the coffin during the morning," a witness told AFP from the victim's home outside the capital Colombo.

Heavily-armed troops remained deployed at a nearby free trade zone where Ratnasekera was shot and wounded on Monday along with over 150 men and women. He died at a hospital on Wednesday.

On Friday, hundreds of Buddhist monks marched to President Mahinda Rajapakse's tightly guarded official residence in Colombo and staged a sit-down demonstration demanding action over the police firing at protesting workers.

The government had proposed taking over the compulsory savings of workers in the private sector and paying them a smaller than expected state pension after retirement, but on Thursday made a formal announcement withdrawing the bill.

The country's chief of police, Inspector-General Mahinda Balasuriya, quit on Wednesday, taking responsibility for the use of live ammunition.

Sri Lanka's main opposition political parties have blamed the government for the violence.

© AFP