(10 Feb 2010) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of people at newspaper stand ++MUTE++
2. Various of newspaper headlines ++MUTE++
3. SOUNDBITE (Sinhala) No name given, vox pop:
"We can''t accept the arrest at this time and government should think about this."
4. Cutaway of newspaper headline reading: (English) "Fonseka held at Navy HQ, meets wife, denies charges"
5. SOUNDBITE (Sinhala) No name given, vox pop:
"It''s wrong to arrest a man who has been of huge service to the nation and who rescued the country."
6. Cutaway of man reading newspaper
7. SOUNDBITE (Sinhala) No name given, vox pop:
"It''s totally wrong to arrest a man who has done such a massive service to the country. He rescued the country"
8. People reading newspapers in street ++MUTE++
STORYLINE
Colombo residents expressed their outrage on Wednesday a day after Sri Lanka''s president dissolved parliament to make way for spring elections.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa''s move on Tuesday to call parliamentary elections follows his sweeping victory at the polls last month over his former army chief General Sarath Fonseka, who had defected to the opposition after helping to end the country''s quarter-century civil war.
Fonseka was arrested by the military on Monday on sedition charges, crippling the only serious threat to the ruling party''s stifling grip on power.
If last month''s presidential poll is anything to go by, the upcoming parliamentary contest will be another bitter race between the government and the opposition, which says it is being harassed and hounded.
Human rights groups have echoed those accusations.
Fonseka''s arrest sparked a wave of condemnations in the street on Wednesday.
"We can''t accept the arrest at this time," said one man.
"It''s totally wrong to arrest a man who has done such a massive service to the country. He rescued the country," said another.
Fonseka''s arrest will likely serve as a warning to others who might seek to challenge the ruling party''s effort to cement its grip on power.
Rajapaksa''s ruling coalition is hoping to secure a two-thirds majority in the legislature, giving them virtually unfettered control of this island nation, off the southern tip of India.
One-time allies, Fonseka and Rajapaksa were both considered heroes by Sri Lanka''s Sinhalese majority for crushing the Tamil Tiger rebels, who were fighting for a homeland for minority Tamils.
However, their relationship deteriorated after the war ended.
The former army chief was considered the opposition''s best hope to unseat Rajapaksa, but the president secured the re-election in a landslide, according to official results.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
