• Very few understand the important operation in which security forces were involved in July this year”

By Yohan Perera   

Security forces have saved the day by safeguarding the legislature and thus avoided further anarchy, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday.   

President Wickremesinghe during his visit to the Defence Secretariat in Akuregoda said a very few understand the important operation in which security forces were involved in July this year. Protesters were trying to take over Parliament. If they succeeded, legislature of the country would have come to a standstill. There will not be a government if the legislature comes to a standstill,” the President said.   

“There was a party leaders meeting on the day protesters surrounded Parliament. Speaker had to call off that meeting. It is easy to take over the judiciary and stop all court cases. Legislature is the most important out of the three branches of government. There was no place for the acting President to function, the Temple Trees was also taken over by the protesters and also the Prime Minister’s office. If they took over Parliament under these circumstances the country would have been without a government. Therefore I ordered the security forces to safeguard Parliament. 

They were able to do it without shooting at any of the protesters. I thank the security forces for this job,” he added.    Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, heads of the security forces and Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene participated in the event.