Sri Lankan president's speech misrepresented in misleading posts about 'protest ban'

The two-minute 54-second video of Wickremesinghe speaking in parliament was shared on Facebook on March 7, 2023.

Its Sinhala-language caption says: "Protests will not be permitted in the country today on -- president says in parliament."

Sri Lanka's unprecedented economic crisis since late 2021 has caused severe shortages of food, fuel and medicines. It led to months of protests that toppled Wickremesinghe's predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

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A screenshot of the false Facebook post.

As of March 21, 2023, Wickremesinghe has not publicly indicated that his government plans to introduce a blanket ban on protests.

However, the rights group Amnesty International has expressed concern about the Sri Lankan authorities' routine use of force to disperse protesters.

"The government's actions over the past year have led to the deaths of at least three protesters, one just over two weeks ago," Thyagi Ruwanpathirana, South Asian Regional Researcher for Amnesty International, told AFP.

"It would not be a wise strategy for the Sri Lankan government to be heavy-handed against protesters drawn to the streets because of their economic difficulties, bringing into focus Sri Lanka's precarious human rights record even more at a time when the country is reliant on international goodwill to weather the economic crisis."

A similar false claim about Wickremesinghe's speech was shared on Facebook here, here and here.

Comments from some users indicated they were misled by the claim.

One user wrote that the clip shows "the true colours of Mr. Bean", referring to Wickremesinghe. "Absolute dictator and protector of the Rajapaksas," it continued.

Another said, "If his intentions are genuine, why is he so afraid of public protests? In a way, it's good to ban it because at least the tear gas deaths will stop."

However, the clip in the posts was taken from a speech in which Wickremesinghe announced no such ban.

His speech -- made before Sri Lanka's parliament on March 7 -- was streamed here.

At the video's one-hour, 40-minute and ten-second mark, he refers to protests and says: "We accept and fully support the right to freedom of expression.

"But it also has to be carried out peacefully. Assembling or protesting is not an issue. But if these protests are being to side-track this program, we will act swiftly against it."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false posts (left) and the same section in the longer Facebook video (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the video in the false posts (left) and the same section in the longer Facebook video (right).

There was also no mention of banning protests from March 7 in the text version of Wickremesinghe's speech published here.

Local media has reported on protests in the island nation since the false posts circulated online.

Civil society groups and student activists gathered in front of the United Nations compound in the capital Colombo on March 10 to demonstrate against the government's use of force during protests, the Sri Lankan newspaper Lankadeepa reported.

Below is a screenshot of the report:

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Screenshot of the local newspaper Lankadeepa that reported a protest on March 10, 2023.

On March 15, multiple trade unions staged an islandwide strike and associated protests across the country against a newly imposed tax regime, the US-based World Socialist Web Site reported:

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Islandwide protests were held by trade unions representing various sectors, on March 15.