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Chapter 3 of 1978 Constitution
Criminal Procedure Code No. 15 of 1979
Penal Code Act No.19
Police Amendment Act No 41 of 1984
National Thoroughfares Act No. 40 of 2008
Orders of the Police Department
International human rights instruments
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
6. Observations
6.1 HNDA Students and the Assembly;
On 2015/10/29, the HNDA students started a protest march at Fort Railway station moving
towards the Ministry of Higher Education. Until they reached Ward Place, the police had been
cooperative. This can be established by facts presented by both parties.
It can be observed that no prior notice was given to the officials or police of their protest. From
the video tapes and the statements provided by the both parties, it can be observed that the police
placed barricades several kilometers away from the Ministry.
It can also be observed that the protest was causing a severe traffic congestion.
It is understood that that the students requested to meet the Minister, but since he was not in the
Ministry premises at the time, the police informed them of the opportunity to meet with the
Assistant Secretary, which they refused.
It can be clearly observed, that the students behaved peacefully until their demand to meet with
the Minister was denied, after which the clash commenced.
6.2 Dispersal of the Assembly;
According to the statement made by the respondent, there was an estimated 1500 students in the
aforesaid area. Three water cannon bowsers, thee riot control police units and 257 police officers
from 17 police stations were deployed.
The orders and advice pertaining to this incident had been issued by the DIG (Colombo), SSP
(Colombo Central), SP (Colombo South), ASP I II & III and 13 OIC’s of the Colombo Division.
From videos and photos of the incident, it can be observed that women police officers had not
been deployed at the place of the incident.
The respondents state the reason for the erection of barricades away from the Ministry was a
precautionary step to avoid damages to State buildings; at an earlier demonstration, students had
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