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To protect and serve … Sinhalese

When a mob of Sinhalese, angered by the death of man in policy custody, stormed a police station in Dompe, southern Sri Lanka, on Sunday, damaging sixteen vehicles, the police responded by arresting five police officers.

However in August, when Tamils in Jaffna angered by police providing sanctuary to ‘grease devils’ – night prowlers who attack women – fleeing after being identified, the response, predictably, was quite different.

Having driven off the demonstrators, the military raided their homes the following day. Many of the houses were destroyed and hundreds of youth and children were dragged to a public square.

See report from TamilNet here.

The logic? If Sinhalese attack police stations, it’s rightful public anger. But if Tamils attack police station, it is ‘terrorism’.

According to Defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa,

“Surrounding camps of security forces is a major offence and it is taken as a terrorist act for attempting to attack law enforcement institutions."

See his comment in our earlier post: 'Sri Lanka lifts emergency laws, but terror law has same powers' (Aug 2011)

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