Expressing its displeasure over the removal of black flags that were hoisted in the Wattala area in line with the recent black flag protest demanding justice for the victims of the Easter Sunday terror attacks, the Catholic Church has said this implies that a certain group is attempting to prevent the truth about the Easter Sunday bombings from being revealed.
Several clips of video footage have been circulating on social media platforms, particularly on Facebook, showing a group of people removing black flags hoisted in the Wattala area in line with the black flag protest organised by the Catholic Church on 21 August 2021.
Commenting on this to The Morning, National Catholic Social Communication Centre Director and Kurana St. Anne’s Church Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Cyril Gamini Fernando said that a group had removed several black flags that had been hoisted in the Mattumagala area in Wattala. He charged that the incident indicated an attempt to suppress the truth about the Easter attacks.
“We don’t know why they are so scared. We asked the Government to expedite the investigations into the terror attacks and to prosecute the perpetrators,” he added.
Fr. Fernando also said the protest was supported by the Catholic community as well as all other communities. “In such a backdrop, it is very unfortunate that these flags were removed,” he noted, adding that there was no specific information on who was behind the incident, but that it could have certain political implications.
“Certain groups can’t seem to tolerate the pressure exerted by the people to serve justice to the victims of this tragedy. If they are politicians, they are afraid that the truth will be revealed, so we must find out as to who is behind this,” he emphasised.
On 13 August, Archbishop of Colombo His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith called on the Catholic community to stage a black flag protest on 21 August over what the Catholic Church calls the continued inaction of the Government with regard to prosecuting the perpetrators behind the attacks. However, the relevant authorities have in fact taken action against certain individuals connected to the incident, including through the filing of indictments.
Nevertheless, people throughout the country took action to hoist black flags on 21 August, after which video footage of one group disturbing another group hoisting black flags in the Wattala area was being circulated on social media platforms recently.