User:Tamilanzen/sandbox

The Weliveriya massacre was a violent attack on civilians perpetuated by the Sri Lanka Army in the Sri Lankan town of Weliveriya Gampaha, 15 kilometers from the country's capital of Colombo. The Sri Lankan military which has been accused of several war crimes and other crimes against humanity    , has been accused of shooting at unarmed people, and desecrating a church where civilians fled for refuge in a violent crackdown on a demonstration against the government's officials.

The Incident
Hundreds of residents began to protest calling for a nearby factory(allegedly owned by an industrialist affiliated to the Rajapaksas) to be shut down because they believed it had dumped pollutants into water. The protest soon gained momentum and the number of people rose to over 5000. And at this point of time, the Sri Lankan Army replaced the Police in the town.

The demonstrators—unarmed men, women and children from several villages including Galloluwa, Nadungama, Rathupaswela, Uruwela, Katuruwatta, Kirikiththa and Ambaraluwa—were protesting against the contamination of local drinking water by Vinogros Dip Products, a rubber-glove manufacturing plant. Villagers had been rallying for several days before the army attack, refusing to halt their protests without an immediate resolution to the problem.

On Thursday, the demonstrators gathered at the main junctions on the Colombo-Kandy highway at Weliweriya, Belummahara and Rathupaswela, blocking the road and rejecting police orders to disperse. They carried placards with slogans such as: “We don’t want acid water. Peace will come, if clean water is given to us.

The troops deployed, were clad in flak jackets (body armour) and armed with T-56 assault rifles to confront and disperse a crowd of protesters blocking a highway. Members of the army’s motorcycle brigade arrived in Belummahara at about 2 p.m. and immediately began harassing demonstrators, demanding they disperse.

According to media reports, a government security council meeting that involved defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse ordered the military mobilisation against the Gampaha protests.

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