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Arrest these campus thugs in Sri Lanka
Saturday, 30 August 2008 - 5:02 AM SL Time
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Another dastardly attack on the media took place on Thursday. Janaka Galappatti, a photojournalist of the Lankadeepa newspaper and Dushantha Manoj, a Sirasa cameraman were roughed up and relieved of their cameras at the Bloemfontein Medical hostel near the Colombo Medical Faculty. This time, the attack has come not from Dr. Mervyn Silva or his goons who cannot stand the sight of cameras but from a group of budding doctors.
The crime that Janaka (accompanied by a female journalist on an assignment) had committed to deserve that kind of punishment was seeking undergraduates views on the on-going boycott of GCE (A/L) answer script evaluation as well as trying to take some pictures!
Students and the university authorities say the journalists had not obtained permission to visit the hostel. Yes, they have a point! But, similarly students had no right to take the law into their hands. For, the media personnel obviously posed no threat to them. What those fairly educated and intelligent students should have done, if they had any suspicions, was to call the police and hand over `the suspects`. The Sirasa journalist had arrived there after receiving a call from the journalists in trouble only to be manhandled.
The police have launched an investigation into the incident and it should be found out whether students set upon the journalists because of the issue they were handling. Pressure is mounting on the government from irate parents to bring the teachers boycotting paper marking to book. Commissioner General of Examinations Anura Edirisinghe is reported to have asked the Attorney General`s whether legal action could be instituted against the teachers concerned. More media coverage of the boycott is sure to fan the flames of public opprobrium against the teacher unions on the warpath. Their last boycott of paper marking came a cropper due to judicial intervention following a surge of public anger. Therefore, it is being speculated in some quarters that a group of students sympathetic to the political elements behind the boycott may have instigated violence to prevent the journalists from completing their assignment on Thursday.
However, it is only through an impartial investigation that the real motive behind the attack could be established. The journalists who suffered at the hands of the student mob say they can identify their assailants. So, half the battle is over! The job that the police have in hand is not difficult.
The kneejerk reaction of the government to the incident was to instruct the IGP to take immediate action against the assailants. If only the government had acted in the same manner when a Sirasa camera crew was manhandled and their equipment grabbed by Mervyn`s men at Kelaniya a few weeks ago!
Ironically, it was only the other day that university students cried foul when the police descended on a group of undergraduates trying to march on Temple Trees. The question that undergrads medical or otherwise should be asked is how they can seek to justify holding protest marches in high security zones, while brutally assaulting journalists for entering university premises without permission.
The university thugs involved in Thursday`s attack must be arrested forthwith and hauled up before Court so that they will realise that they don`t wield the same powers as the police. Unless they are stopped in their tracks, before long they will resort to lynching on campuses.
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samanj
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 2131
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 30 Aug 2008 02:57:17 GMT Report for Abuse
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Are they campus thugs OR
Intrution into their privacy by the media men.
This was not a premeditated attack.
Something serious wrong with the media ........
Do not lay the blame on medics.
media has provoked a situation. media could not be always right......They have their hidden agendas.
Whether the media men obtained permision or not is immaterial here.
They have stepped out of their boundaries and were treated right.
media does not enjoy a blank cheque. |
Damed
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 4311
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 30 Aug 2008 04:40:41 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Media should get this for their agendas...while JVP will get for all the destruction they propagate in University's. |
kiora
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 235
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 30 Aug 2008 07:55:31 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Do not blame the Medics. But run for your life if you provoke them. What's up Doc not getting enough medication. |
kiwikanga
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 2304
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30 Aug 2008 08:39:37 GMT Report for Abuse
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Arrest these campus thugs in Sri Lanka
Thugs? These are the brilliant of the brilliant in the country aren't they? |
icey
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 7
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 1 Sep 2008 05:12:37 GMT Report for Abuse
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Comparing Dr:mervin silva to colombo medics??? what a joke!
I dont know how the hell mervin silva became a Dr. Anyway, make sure its mervin who entered in to a media by force. Here its media who entered in to university premises with out permisson. |
gchula99
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1102
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 7 Sep 2008 08:32:30 GMT Report for Abuse
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Brilliant ?? That I am not sure.
But just leave them alone if any wrongdoing caught take disciplinary action!!
For gods sake stop yelling. That is exactly what they need. Publicity!
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