Sri Lanka Army denies opening fire towards protesters

Sri Lanka Army says its attention has been drawn to a few video clips going viral claiming that troops opened fire at protesters in order to cause intentional harm to them when they were attempting to forcibly enter the President’s House compound in Colombo Fort on Saturday (9).

The Army categorically denies having opened fire towards the protesters, but says a few rounds were fired to the air and the sidewalls of the main gate entrance to the President’s House compound as a deterrent, aimed at preventing the entry of the protesters into the compound.

Firing into the air and sidewalls do not therefore necessarily mean that those Army personnel on duty were intent on causing deliberate harm to the protesters, the SLA said in a statement.