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Sri Lanka Opposition Storms Into Parliament, Vows to Impeach President
COLOMBO, July 16 (News Agencies) - Sri Lanka's opposition members broke police roadblocks on Monday, forcing their way into the parliament building where they vowed to impeach President Chandrika Kumaratunga for shutting down the assembly.
Opposition leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, led MPs into the barricaded building, defying the suspension of the parliament. Kumaratunga's minority government faced near certain defeat at a vote that had been scheduled for this week.
"She has qualified for impeachment by shutting down parliament in an undemocratic and dictatorial move," Wickremesinghe said. "She is now running scared and is shooting at every leaf and shadow."
He said the joint opposition, which holds a majority in the 225-member assembly, was being consulted on the impeachment document and could have a charge sheet against the president ready within two weeks.
"We have two ways of demonstrating our majority: one is to get the parliament reconvened and show the majority on the floor of the House, and the other is to get a majority in the House to sign the impeachment," he said.
Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) also lambasted Kumaratunga for ordering police to set up roadblocks, via trucks and other obstacles, in order to prevent legislators from traveling to the parliament building.
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) said it was pressing for charges against policemen who obstructed legislators.
"Some of us were prevented from traveling in our vehicles and we were forced to walk (two miles) to the building," SLMC leader, Rauf Hakeem, said.
Hakeem was fired as trade minister on June 20. His sacking precipitated problems for Kumaratunga when seven SLMC MPs defected to the opposition, leaving her government in the minority.
Since then, she has been battling to save her government from defeat on the floor of the House. On July 5, she let lapse an 18-year-old state of emergency rather than risk a monthly vote on the extension of the tough laws, which could have been a test of her government.
Tamil legislator, A. Vinayagamoorthi, accused Kumaratunga of being undemocratic and said the police action against legislators was "another step towards a dictatorship in the country."
The MPs stormed into the tightly guarded parliament building after Speaker, Anura Bandaranaike, resisted opposition calls to defy the presidential decree that halted parliament until September 7.
Bandaranaike ruled Sunday that he was unable to reconvene the assembly which Kumaratunga, his estranged sister, had ordered shut down in order to avoid a no-confidence vote against the government.
Heavily armed police blocked access roads and prevented MPs from going into the legislative building located on a man-made lake island, but opposition members stood their ground and entered the compound.
Bandaranaike stepped in to avert a full-scale clash between police and parliamentarians by ordering that MPs and assembly staff have unimpeded access to the premises.
The opposition requires a minimum of 113 MPs' signatures to begin impeachment procedures against Kumaratunga. The opposition currently has 115 members.
As soon as the Speaker entertains an impeachment resolution against the president, she loses her executive powers to dissolve parliament until the case against her is resolved.
The seven Muslim MPs joined the main opposition in parliament Monday, but the Marxist JVP, or People's Liberation Front, did not take part, saying the protest had not been agreed among them earlier.
"That does not mean that we are not taking part in a joint collective opposition action against the government," JVP parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa said.
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