Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa today revealed that a move to remove Galle Face protesters by police trucks sometime ago had to be withdrawn due to the intervention of the US Ambassador.

 

He told Parliament that the US Ambassador had told a certain minister that if the Galle Face protesters were removed, it would negatively affect IMF discussions.

 

"One day, during the early days of the Galle Face protest, a heavy fleet of police trucks had arrived at the Galle Face protesting site. When I  inquired, I got to know that they had arrived to remove the protesters. But, they vanished suddenly. I later got to know that the US Ambassador had phoned a certain minister and asked whether there was a move to remove the protesters. Then, that minister had told her that he was unaware of it. Then, the Ambassador had told the minister that if they were removed, it will destroy the IMF discussions," he said.

 

Weerawansa said the Galle Face Aragalaya had lost its original motives at present and it now consisted of only some thugs who were planning to create anarchy in the country.

 

"If the protesters had their original motives, they would not have blocked the entrances to the Presidential Secretariat when IMF delegation was visiting here," he said. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)