The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and the International Students for Social Equality (ISSE) in Sri Lanka will hold a public meeting on August 3 in Colombo against the government’s use of police-state measures.

Facing opposition to his austerity measures, President Mahinda Rajapakse is increasingly resorting to intimidation and repression to deal with rising popular discontent. The methods used against the Tamil masses during two decades of civil war are being turned against working people as a whole as the government wages its “economic war” to “build the nation”.

The most striking example to date has been the police round-up of thousands of slum dwellers in the Mattakkuliya area on July 4 following a protest the previous day over the arrest and beating of a young three-wheeler driver. The operation took place as the government prepares to implement a sweeping slum clearance program in central Colombo.

The government’s autocratic methods in Sri Lanka are just a sharp expression of political processes taking place internationally as the global economic crisis worsens. We call on workers, housewives, youth and intellectuals to attend our public meeting to discuss these issues and the necessity of an internationalist and socialist alternative.

Venue: Public Library Auditorium, Colombo.

Date and Time: August 3, 4.00 p.m.

Main Speaker: Wije Dias, SEP General Secretary