Mannar, police attack peaceful demonstration against wind farms (which continue unabated)

In Mannar, over 100 police officers brutally dispersed a peaceful protest, injuring women, priests and citizens. For over 55 days, the population has been conducting a satyagraha demanding dialogue and transparency, denouncing a model of development imposed from above and without consultation. After yesterday's strike, protesters announce new actions if the government does not respond.

Colombo (Asia News) - On 28 September, while wind turbines were being transported to Mannar, the police escorting them attacked a peaceful protest by citizens, including some Christian priests. Several people were seriously injured and hospitalised, according to the Citizen Dialogue Group, an organisation that includes Christian religious leaders, which organised a strike for yesterday, Monday 29.

Due to pressure from the population and environmental groups, the Mannar wind farm had suspended its activities. However, the turbines and other equipment necessary for future operation were still transported to Mannar on the evening of 26 September under police protection.

Citizens and Christian clergy, who oppose this disorganised and destructive development, took to the streets and demonstrated their opposition by shouting slogans and sitting on the main road; they were asked by the police to move.

The protesters continue to argue that this project is not necessary in Mannar, and claim that the president has not yet responded to their request to intervene in this project. But hundreds of police officers did not tolerate the statements, attacking the seated and defenceless protesters with batons and shields.

Several people, including women from Mannar, were injured and admitted to the district hospital. Interviewed by AsiaNews about the incident, climate activist Melani Gunathilaka said that President Dissanayake talks to the world about sustainability and biodiversity and tells the local population that their voices will be respected. ‘But the NPP government is beating up the people of Mannar to forcibly push through development projects that have destroyed their livelihoods and polluted their drinking water,’ she added.

‘The protests here are not just about wind turbines, but about dignity, survival and democracy itself. And the violent police crackdown on the people of Mannar on the night of 26 September is a chilling reminder of how fragile justice is in post-war Sri Lanka,’ Jesuit priest and activist Fr Roy Fernando told AsiaNews.

"For over 55 days, fishermen, farmers, women, children and members of the Catholic clergy in Mannar have been conducting a peaceful satyagraha. They gathered day and night on the side of the road, with rosaries and placards in hand, singing hymns and imploring dialogue. Their demand was not radical: they wanted the government to listen to them, consult them and show that their voices mattered in the decisions that would shape their future. But on the night of 26 September, peace met force."

‘The brutality was compounded by illegality. Male officers assaulted female protesters in the absence of female police personnel, directly violating police guidelines and grossly abusing human dignity,’ he continued. "For a community where the Church remains a moral reference point, the beating of priests was not only an act of violence, but a sacrilege. It sent a chilling message: no voice of dissent, however peaceful or sacred, will be tolerated. The violence cannot be understood in isolation. To grasp the outrage, one must examine the wind project itself.

The project was initiated without meaningful dialogue with local communities. Environmental impact assessments (EIAs), if they exist, have not been shared in an accessible form.

Decisions were made in meeting rooms in Colombo and signed with foreign investors, while the people most affected were left in the dark. Furthermore, Fr Roy said that for decades, the northern province has suffered from top-down development without community involvement, whether it be wartime militarisation, land grabbing or poorly planned “reconstruction”.

The people of Mannar carry this memory of exclusion with them. For them, the wind farm project seems like yet another betrayal in a long series of actions by the state that have ignored their rights.

Yesterday, 29 September, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., a general strike was held in Mannar district, with shops closed and a large protest demonstration. Members of the Colombo People's Council Movement, activists and a large number of civilians took part. The people and victims of Mannar once again presented their demands to the District Secretary, who promised “a response”.

However, if the people do not receive the response they are seeking regarding the construction of the wind farm, the peaceful protest and strike will continue, the leader of the Mannar Citizens' Committee, Fr Marcus Adigalar, told the media. Meanwhile, a group of young people filed a complaint with the police demanding an apology for the assault on women, priests and young people who were protesting on Friday evening against the transport of turbines and other equipment; according to reports, the police have not yet responded.