ආණ්‌ඩු විරෝධී උද්ඝෝෂණයට සහභාගි වීම සඳහා ඊයේ (29 වැනිදා) දිවයිනේ විවිධ ප්‍රදේශවල සිට අතිවිශාල පිරිසක්‌ කොළඹ හයිඩ්පාර්ක්‌ පිටිය වෙත එක්‌රොක්‌ වූහ.විරෝධතා රැලිය එක්‌සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂ නායක සහ විපක්‍ෂ නායක රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් ඊයේ (29 දා) සවස 3.30 ට පමණ ආරම්භ විය.
ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා ඇතුළු අනෙකුත් දේශපාලන සිරකරුවන් නිදහස්‌ කර ගැනීම, පෞද්ගලික ව්‍යාපාර රජයට පවරා ගන්නා පනත හකුලා ගන්නා ලෙස බලකර සිටීම, ජනතාවට සහන නොදුන් අය වැයට විරෝධය පළ කිරීම යන කරුණු මූලික කරගෙන මෙම විරෝධතා රැලිය සහ උද්ඝෝෂණය එක්‌සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂයේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් හා අනෙකුත් දේශපාලන, බහුජන සංවිධාන, වෘත්තිය සමිති ඒකාබද්ධව සංවිධානය කර තිබිණි.
විරෝධතා රැලියෙන් අනතුරුව ඊට සහභාගි වූ නායකයන් සියලු දෙනා ජනතාව සමග පා ගමනින් ලිප්ටන් වටරවුමට ගොස්‌ එහිදී උද්ඝෝෂණ ව්‍යාපාරයක්‌ පැවැත්වූහ.
මෙම විරෝධතා රැලියට සහ උද්ඝෝෂණයට ජනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා මහතාගේ බිරිඳ වන අනෝමා ෆොන්සේකා මහත්මිය සහභාගි වීමට නියමිතව තිබුණු අතර ඇයට ජනතාව ඇමැතීමට අවස්‌ථාව ලබාදී තිබෙන බවද එක්‌සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂයේ මහ ලේකම් තිස්‌ස අත්තනායක මහතා පැවැසීය.
Fight for your rights! UNP protest to based on 3 points of order
The demonstrators from the UNP and several other political parties, trade unions, people’s organizations and rights groups gathered at Hyde Park
A coconut crushing and beseeching of gods were held to seek freedom for the former Army commander and against the present regime which has introduced a budget without any relief for the masses, after which they marched to Lipton Circus, where a rally took place.
Addressing the people there, the opposition leader said that for the first time in history, an opposition leader was disallowed a speech in the House, considered the seat of democracy.
He asked whether the government was trying to safeguard parliamentary democracy or the democracy of the ‘saatakaya’ (shawl), adding that the ‘saatakaya’ of Mahinda Rajapaksa is squeezing the very life out of democracy of the people.
This government is afraid of Sarath Fonseka, who won the fight against terrorism for the country, and of human rights, and is denying the human rights of all citizens by imprisoning the war hero, who has now become the symbol of all political prisoners, said Mr. Wickremesinghe.
He pointed out that the ex-Army chief was hauled before courts, although an election candidate cannot be prosecuted under emergency laws.
Speaking further, Mr. Wickremesinghe said that by taking over profit-earning private entities, this government is destroying the local businesses.
Speaking to the very large crowds of protestors, deputy leader of the Democratic National Alliance Sarath Manamendra said he was glad that the UNP took the lead for a struggle to secure release of Mr. Fonseka.
He said that from Mavilaru to Nandikadal Lagoon, it was the former Army chief, and not president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had commanded the armed forces and brought the head of the LTTE leader.
Even the president recognized it by felicitating Mr. Fonseka as the best ever Army commander, he said, adding that it was ‘captain Sarath Fonseka who had led the school team to victory, and not principal Mahinda Rajapaksa who had done so.’
Mr. Manamendra stressed that it is only the UNP which has the ability to secure freedom for the former Army commander.
Left Front leader Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne also addressed the protestors and said he too, was happy that they were there in large numbers for the sake of the country’s future and to agitate on behalf of the leader who had saved the nation.
He said that president Rajapaksa well knew that he would not be able to engage in corruption and other malpractices if Mr. Fonseka is out in the open, and therefore had destroyed his image and dignity by using every power available for him.
Dr. Karunaratne added that the president has betrayed the country to the wants of China, Europe, the US and other foreign powers.
Also speaking here, UNP MP Dayasiri Jayaseka urged the masses to rally with the opposition and fight for their rights and for the toppling of the authoritarian regime.
The United National Party organised a protest in Colombo today urging the Government to immediately release political prisoners including Sarath Fonseka.
The protest which was led by UNP and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe was also held to voice opposition to the Budget and to call for the withdrawal of the Revival of Under-Performing Enterprises and Under-Utilised Assets Act. Groups which converged at several locations in Colombo this afternoon then marched to Hyde Park.
One such protest march commenced from near the Vihara Maha Devi Park in Colombo. Massive crowds of people attended a protest march and rally that began at Hyde Park in Colombo this afternoon (Nov. 29) to demand freedom for former Army chief Sarath Fonseka and other political prisoners and protested over several more issues. The protest march began from near Viharamaha Devi Park under the leadership of opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The participants also shouted slogans to demand withdrawal of the expropriation act and against the government’s budget for 2012.Party leaders including Mr. Wickremesinghe, Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne, Sarath Manamendra and Dr. K. Guruparan as well as journalist Kumara Alagiyawanna, convener of the of the Movement for the Freedom of Sarath Fonseka, addressed the rally.
