interreligious events, also in the spotlight of the fight against terrorism

Despite President Wickremesinghe’s new promise regarding investigations into the 2019 Easter attacks, a black-flagged march demanding justice for the victims was prevented. Anti-government demonstrators have been barred from attending a public ceremony on the occasion of Muslim iftar.

Colombo () – The Sri Lankan police have prevented two inter-religious demonstrations from taking place in Colombo to demand justice on the occasion of the anniversary of the Easter attacks in 2019. The ban is allegedly part of measures to combat the terrorism in the country. For this reason, a march was prevented from taking place on April 9, from the church of Saint Nicholas in Bopitiya to the church of Saint Sebastian in Katuwapitiya.

This was denounced by the parish priest of Bopitiya, Father Nimal Jayantha. “What’s the point of this law in Sri Lanka if we can’t even go in a procession playing and singing a song calling for peace for the world? The police have prevented us from playing hymns or displaying black banners, banners or flags (which are used in Sri Lanka to denounce the lack of justice after the massacres, ed.).

In his Easter message, President Ranil Wickremesinghe had renewed his pledge to create the conditions for justice after the 2019 Easter bombing. He ensured impartiality and independence in judicial proceedings, avoiding influence of any kind.

Other “anti-terrorism” measures were also taken at an interfaith celebration of the iftar -the breaking of the fast in the month of Ramadan- that had been organized for the same Easter night in Galle Face Green. “We had invited the whole world in the hope of sitting together as one country and one people,” he told activist Mohammadi Fuzly. But the police kept the leaders of the popular protests away from the event. “I was not allowed to participate in the rituals of my Muslim community,” Fuzly protested. “What right do these policemen have to tell me to break my fast somewhere else?

“If it is true that Sri Lanka is a democratic country, all its citizens should be free to enjoy their rights equally, especially religious freedom,” Negombo-based Muslim preacher Mohammad Abdul Rahuman said in a dialogue with . “We strongly condemn the police obstruction during the procession organized by the Bopitiya church on Easter Sunday, for the victims of Holy Week. And likewise, “the police obstruction of the Muslim religious fast organized for that same day.”