Sri Lankan man says his activist son abducted by police after emergency declared

A Sri Lankan man on Saturday alleged that his son, who is a social media activist, has been abducted by the police after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency amidst protests over the country's worst economic crisis.

Anurudda Bandara's father said that his son was taken away by someone from the north Colombo police station of Modera on Friday night.

According to the police, he was wanted to be questioned over his social media activities.

The incident came after President Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency in a bid to counter public protests against the government.

The emergency was declared as the island nation braced for country-wide protests on Sunday against the government's poor handling of the ongoing economic crisis where people currently endure long hours of power outages and scarcity of essentials.

Bandara's father said the inquiries he had made with the police station concerned had denied that he was in their custody.

Upon a complaint lodged with the Human Rights Commission by the Young Journalists' Association, it has been revealed that Bandara is being questioned by the police elsewhere.

His questioning came ahead of a planned civil society protest on Sunday which has been organised through social media to carry out a nationwide protest against the government for its handling of the ongoing economic crisis.

Bandara, it was said, had acted as the admin of a social media campaign that demanded the resignation of the president and his government.

Sri Lanka declares nationwide emergency as protests turn violent

In an apparent reaction to the protest, the government imposed a state of emergency which would among other things make all gatherings unlawful.

Meanwhile, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka urged for the rescinding of the special gazette which proclaimed the state of emergency.

They urged the President to ensure that fundamental rights which are aspects of the sovereignty of the people are respected and protected and not violated by the state or its agents.

On Thursday night, a large demonstration opposite the private residence of Rajapaksa led to mass-scale arrests. They held placards calling the Lankan President 'to go home', blaming him for the hardships.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in history. With long lines for fuel, cooking gas, essentials in short supply and long hours of power cuts the public has been suffering for weeks.

Rajapaksa has defended his government's actions, saying the foreign exchange crisis was not his making and the economic downturn was largely pandemic driven where the island's tourism revenue and inward remittances waning.