Thursday, August 08, 2013

Sri Lanka army slammed for killing protesters...

The Roman Catholic Church has accused the Sri Lankan army of shooting unarmed protesters and desecrating a church during demonstrations against water contamination.

In an unusually strongly worded statement on Wednesday, the Archbishop of Colombo condemned "unhesitatingly" the military shooting that killed three people and wounded more than 50 others in a village just outside the capital last Thursday.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith accused Sri Lanka's army of violating the sanctity of St Anthony's church, beating up people who rushed there to escape the army shooting.

"We wish to condemn unhesitatingly the attack that was carried out by some elements of the [armed] forces on people who had sought refuge at St Anthony's church," the archbishop said.

"Such actions cannot be accepted by anyone... We do not accept using one's power in a repressive manner to suppress protests, even if they get out of hand."

The military opened fire on Thursday on thousands of unarmed residents who were protesting against the contamination of their ground water supply, allegedly by chemical waste from a rubber glove factory. Full story...

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