Father Amila Jeewantha Peiris has been a key figure during protracted anti-government protests in the crisis-hit nation
Father Amila Jeewantha Peiris addressing an anti-government protest in Sri Lanka. (Photo: Amila Udagedera)
Rights defenders and church officials in Sri Lanka have deplored the police raid on a remote parish church allegedly to search for a Catholic priest who has been a key figure in anti-government protests in the crisis-hit nation.
Police raided the church at Ratnapura in Sabaragamuwa Province of south-central Sri Lanka on July 27 and searched for Father Amila Jeewantha Peiris, media reports said.
The raid came two days after a Sri Lanka court slapped a travel ban on the 45-year-old priest and five others for their alleged participation in “unlawful assembly and damage to public property” during a protest rally in June.
Father Peiris has been at the forefront of the months-long anti-government protest at Galle Face Green in the capital Colombo that effectively ousted the long-reigning Rajapaksa family dynasty blamed for the nation’s worst economic crisis.
The huge protests forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign. Last week, parliament elected former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new president. However, protests have continued demanding the resignation of Wickremesinghe, who is known as a loyalist of the Rajapaksa dynasty.
Prominent rights activist Ruki Fernando said police actions against Father Peiris are absolutely unacceptable, noting that he is among the few Sinhalese Catholic priests who have spent years serving communities in minority Tamil-dominant North and East that were ravaged by decades of civil war in the ethnically-divided Sri Lanka.
The priest is loved by the Tamil clergy, religious and laity, said Fernando, a consultant to the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission of the Conference of Major Religious Superiors.
"He faces reprisals for his unwavering commitment to the struggle of people. I hope church leaders and all others will come forward to support and protect him, as he had done for others," he told UCA News.
Fernando has worked with Father Peiris in missions supporting victims of police brutality and more recently in the people's protest.
Fernando said that the priest serves in one of the most isolated, poor parishes, in the diocese of Ratnapura, working with tea workers, and educating children.
He also visits Colombo and other parts of the country, joining and supporting people's struggles for rights and justice Fernando said.
Father Hari Haran Rajapriyar from Ratnapura diocese said that he was shocked by the attempted arrest of fellow clergy.
Father Peiris "loved the non-violent movement of Mahatma Gandhi and the resistance of Nelson Mandela," said Father Rajapriyar.
Both priests from the same diocese are friends for the past 24 years.
"The poor people protested asking for the right to live (food and fuel). The rulers have defrauded the country for the last 74 years, it's not that they have to intimidate and arrest the innocent protesters but think and plan to provide the Sri Lankans with the basic needs."
Politicians should stop "using state-sponsored terrorism on innocent people," the priest said.
Bishop Cletus Chandrasiri of Ratnapura diocese said that he constantly prays for Father Peiris and will make efforts to protect him.
"We have to protect the priest," said Bishop Chandrasiri.
Terrence Shanaka, a lay Catholic who had worked with Father Peiris, wrote on Facebook that the priest made great sacrifices for the nation.
"The priest is a living saint. I have seen a man who lives the Gospel. He lives what he preaches," said Shanaka.
N. Gunawardena, a university student said that the priest never abandoned the protesters despite difficult situations like violence and tear gas shelling by police.
"Even in a place where we lose our patience, when we see Father Jeewantha, he has created a great image in our minds to calm us down automatically," she said.
The priest had said that he is not afraid of repression.
"No one can touch my body unless God allows them. If God needs my life to fulfill his mission at this time, I will not worry about my life at all,” Father Peiris said recently.
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