Member of Sri Lanka's opposition party dies after sustaining injuries from police attack during protest march

Colombo: A lawmaker from Sri Lanka’s opposition party, who was due to contest in the upcoming local body elections, died on Monday after succumbing to injuries sustained when police used force during a protest march. Sri Lankan police on Sunday fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse a demonstration organised by the NPP (National People’s Party) here to protest the delay in conducting local body polls. The Election Commission on Friday formally announced that the local body elections would not be held on March 9 as planned, and a fresh date will be notified on March 3. Nimal Amarasiri, 61, was the candidate to contest from Nivithigala Pradeshiya Sabha (in Sri Lanka’s southwestern region), according to Tilwin Silva, the NPP General secretary. He was one of the two who were seriously injured from the police attack on peaceful protesters," Silva told reporters. President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the government must take full responsibility for his death, he said. Silva said another 28 NPP lawmakers who attended the protest were hospitalised following the police attack. On Sunday, the NPP lawmakers walked with a banner, which said let’s defeat the government’s cowardly attempt to bury democracy by not holding the election." The police obtained orders from the Colombo Fort Magistrate Court, preventing 26 people, including the NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, from entering areas around the President’s Office and President’s House until 8 pm on Sunday. Opposition parties pin the blame on President Wickremesinghe, who is also the country’s finance minister, for trying to sabotage the local body polls by blocking the funds from the Treasury. They are also accusing him of influencing the state officials and the Election Commission against the holding of the polls, fearing a loss.  The election to appoint new administrations to 340 local councils for a four-year term has been postponed since March last year due to the ongoing economic crisis. The government has indicated repeatedly that the time was unsuitable to hold the election, given the economic crisis.  It said the scarcity of money to hold the election costing Rs 10 billion would bring additional pressure on the already lean state finances. Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves, sparking political turmoil in the country that led to the ouster of the all-powerful Rajapaksa family. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.