Rights group demands probe into Sri Lanka police shooting that left one person dead and injured 13 others during protests
- Human Rights Watch urged officials to ‘take appropriate steps against any wrongdoing’, while the president has pledged an impartial inquiry into the shooting
- Protesters want the president to resign amid a worsening economic crisis that has led to a shortage of essentials such as food, cooking gas, fuel and medicine
A leading human rights group is demanding the Sri Lankan authorities conduct a prompt and impartial probe into a police shooting that left one person dead and 13 others injured during protests over fuel price hike amid the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the authorities to probe the “apparent use of excessive force by police” in the incident and “take appropriate steps against any wrongdoing.”
Patricia Grossman, the group’s associate Asia director said “the use of live ammunition” by police against demonstrators “appears to be a flagrant misuse of lethal force.”
“People protesting government policies that affect their lives and livelihoods shouldn’t have to fear for their lives,” she said in a statement released late on Wednesday night, adding, “International law prohibits the use of lethal force by law enforcement officers unless there is an imminent threat to life.”
The group said Sri Lanka has a long history of failing to provide justice and redress to victims of human rights violations.
The statement comes hours after Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pledged an impartial and transparent inquiry into the shooting which was the first by security forces during weeks of protests and reignited widespread demonstrations across the Indian Ocean island nation.
The shooting occurred in Rambukkana, 90 kilometres northeast of the capital, Colombo.