By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera   

Police have requested Sri Lanka The Human Rights Commission to conduct an independent investigation into the Rambukkana incident in addition to other investigations conducted by the police, Public Security Minister Prasanna Ranatunge said yesterday.  

Making a special statement on the incident, he told Parliament that a investigation was conducted by a police team from the Avissawella police station headed by an SSP and a special committee comprising of a State Ministry Secretary has also been appointed to investigate into the incident. “We will present the report in Parliament once it is available,” he said.  
The Minister said police opened fire to control the situation as the last resort and added that police had powers to do so under the Police Ordinance and Penal Code.   
 “The protesters had blocked the road and railway track for nearly ten hours and it turned violent. Police took every effort to control the situation and opened fire as the last resort,” he said.  

The Minister said the protestors had tried to set on fire a fuel bowser carrying 33,000 MTs of fuel and said unless police acted to control the situation, there could have been a bigger disaster.