Thousands of people joined government-backed protests across Sri Lanka on Monday against a proposed U.N. Human Rights Council resolution on alleged rights abuses during the country’s civil war.
The protests coincided with the beginning of the council’s four-week session in Geneva.
Cabinet ministers urged citizens to join the demonstrations, which were planned in 150 cities and towns, according the government’s website.
A U.N. panel report earlier concluded there were credible allegations that both the government and the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels committed serious abuses that could amount to war crimes, especially during the last months of the conflict, which ended in May 2009.
The resolution urges Sri Lanka to investigate alleged abuses, but the government says it interferes in the country’s internal affairs.
In Colombo, thousands of people, including Cabinet ministers, lawmakers and government supporters, marched across the capital, blocking traffic on main roads for hours.
They shouted slogans, waved national flags and displayed placards that read “Defeat Geneva conspiracy,” “Hands off Sri Lanka,” Let’s not lose victory achieved by heroic forces” and “Save Sri Lanka from UNHRC watchdog.”
“People have gathered here to give a clear message that they are ready to safeguard this country from the vicious proposals and accusations of Western forces,” said Power and Energy Minister Patali Ranawaka.
Government minister Mervyn Silva warned that Westerners would “learn a good lesson in Sri Lanka if they try to do the same thing that they did to Iraq, Libya and Syria.”
Earlier on Monday, about 3,000 government supporters marched toward the U.S. Embassy but were halted by police. The United States has declared its support of the planned resolution.
Mahinda Kahandagamage, an organizer of the march, said they delivered a letter to the embassy condemning the U.S. support and asking that the resolution be withdrawn.
“The country has just been liberated from a (25-year) war. Our lives were in darkness,” he said. “But now there is no fear of bomb blasts, no sound of gunfire. But now America is trying to bring a proposal against our country in Geneva. We all must get together to defeat that effort.”
In Gampaha, hundreds of government lawmakers, politicians and supporters shouted slogans condemning the planned resolution.
The U.S. representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, said last week that if Sri Lanka continues to resist the resolution, all options would remain on the table, including calling for an outside investigation.
The U.N. panel report, which was published in 2010, said tens of thousands of civilians may have been killed during the civil war and called for an independent international investigation.
Sri Lanka rejected an international investigation and appointed its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, which cleared government troops of deliberately targeting civilians but proposed an inquiry into complaints of isolated violations. It also said the Tamil Tigers routinely violated international humanitarian laws.
