Police fire teargas outside Sri Lanka parliament
2016-12-03 19:15:08.0
COLOMBO, Dec 3, 2016 (AFP) - Police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse thousands of opposition-backed protestors outside parliament Saturday as law makers debated the annual budget.
2016-12-03 19:15:08.0
COLOMBO, Dec 3, 2016 (AFP) - Police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse thousands of opposition-backed protestors outside parliament Saturday as law makers debated the annual budget.
Demonstrators
led by loyalists of former president Mahinda Rajapakse held up traffic and
blocked the main access to the parliament complex for several hours in the
capital.
Opposition
lawmaker Ranjith Soysa said protesters were demanding local elections which
were due last year, but postponed to devise a new electoral system.
"Police
unleashed a vicious teargas attack and 10 opposition MPs, including myself,
were hit," Soysa said in parliament while pointing to his drenched
clothing.
The
latest police clash follows a protest by private bus operators and taxi drivers
who stopped work over a proposed 50-fold increase in traffic fines in a bid to
make Sri Lankan roads safer.
During
the bus and taxi strike, police fired teargas to disperse drivers who were
holding up traffic along a main highway outside Colombo.
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