On the evening of 12 August 2009, police in the coastal village of Angulana, about 15 km south of Colombo, arrested two young men. When their bullet-riddled bodies were discovered the next morning, the village erupted in fury. The deaths had obviously occurred in police custody and, having concluded that to wait for the police to probe the criminal deeds of their own would be an exercise in futility, the villagers surrounded the police station and attacked the officers on duty. Taken aback by this spontaneous outpouring of popular anger, the authorities responded with sobriety and foresight. The suspected policemen were arrested and, after a speedy investigation, were indicted in the Colombo High Court for murder. Two years after the murders, in late August the court returned a guilty verdict, sentencing four of the accused to death.
In September, however, the defence authorities moved to criminalise any public protest targeting security personnel. According to a military spokesperson, 'It is wrong for civilians to attack an army camp or police station. Those who do that are terrorists. We will take action against them under the Prevention of Terrorism Act … It doesn't have to be Tamil Tigers. Anybody who attacks the military is a terrorist.' This statement is ominous for two reasons: the nebulous nature of the term attack with no qualifying adjective (such as 'violent' or 'armed'); and the expressed intent of using the PTA rather than the normal criminal law. This will enable the authorities to use excessive violence against any civilian protest. Had this new regulation been in place two years ago, the Angulana protesters would have been labelled 'terrorists' and arrested en masse, and the uniformed killers would most likely have escaped justice.
The new decision also has an unstated subtext: it is aimed primarily at the minorities, at least for now. Spontaneous public protests against the police are not uncommon, but until recently these had been limited to the Sinhala-majority south. This ethno-geographic factor might explain the relatively mild manner in which the authorities have responded to such protests in the past. This changed in August, however, when spontaneous public protests erupted in the Northern and Eastern provinces in reaction to a growing collective phobia about 'grease devils' – anonymous nocturnal intruders who allegedly daub themselves with grease and attack women. In many areas, Tamil and Muslim villagers have reported that the intruders, when discovered, have vanished into the nearest army/navy camp or police station. The belief that the 'grease devils' are actually security personnel has begun to gain ground among Tamils and Muslims – almost certainly a manifestation of a sense of discontent, insecurity and powerlessness. In such a situation, it behoves the authorities to act with caution and consideration, taking all possible steps to reassure the minority communities, as was done with the Angulana villagers.
However, the opposite seems to be happening. After the outbreak of protests in the east, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse (the president's brother) summoned several imams and told them that the army would act against anyone making trouble. The official reaction to protests by Tamil villagers in the north was even harsher. In August, for instance, the villagers of Navanthurai had surrounded the nearby army camp in search of five 'grease devils' who were believed to have sought refuge there. The army responded by going into the village and assaulting the inhabitants; about 100 men were arrested.