Lankan presidential secretariat reopens after blockade; 3 held for theft

Sri Lanka's presidential secretariat, which was stormed by a sea of anti-government protesters in early July, resumed operations from Monday, 100 days after the building's entry gate was blocked, officials said.

The building's entry gate has been blocked by the protesters since April 9.

On July 9, the protesters stormed the building and occupied it.

In the early hours of Friday last, the police and the security forces conducted a raid and took back control of the building from the protesters on the order of the crisis-hit island nation's new President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The presidential secretariat which was occupied by the protesters from July 9 till Friday last is re-opened and the staff reported to work on Monday, officials said.

Security forces had already opened Galle road for traffic in front of the secretariat.

The protest, also known as the Aragalaya -- a Sinhalese word for "struggle" -- disrupted work for a prolonged period at the presidential secretariat, which had gone through heavy damages during the agitation and required necessary renovations.

Cleaning and repair works were undertaken over the weekend to ready the presidential secretariat for the reopening.

Protesters have been camping outside the presidential office, demanding the resignation of former President Rajapaksa, and Wickremesinghe, a key Rajapaksa ally.

Protesters have blamed Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe for mismanaging the economy that has left the country's 22 million people struggling to buy fuel, food and basic necessities.

The use of force to evict the protesters was condemned by the international community and the rights groups. However, the government defended the move.

President Wickremesinghe has said he would extend support to the peaceful protesters but would be tough on those who try to promote violence under the guise of peaceful protests.

The government said investigations into the occupation of the presidential secretariat, the damage caused to it by the occupation and alleged stealing of some valuable items from the building are underway.

In another development, a firearm snatched by protesters from a soldier during an attempt to break into Sri Lanka's parliamentary complex earlier this month has been recovered, the police said in Colombo on Monday.

The Navy divers found the T56 rifle snatched from a soldier by the protesters on July 13 during a search operation at the Diyawanna bridge within the close proximity of parliament on Saturday, they said.

A massive protest on July 13 attempted to break into the parliamentary complex in continuation of the popular uprising on July 9, which forced the fleeing of the then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa from the country to the Maldives and then to Singapore.

The police said the protesters had snatched the weapon and ammunition from a soldier during the protest. 

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan police arrested three people as they were trying to sell 40 gold-plated brass sockets stolen from the President's House in Colombo after angry demonstrators stormed the iconic building during an unprecedented anti-government protest over the severe economic crisis in the country.

Three persons who entered the President's House on July 9 during protest have been arrested with 40 gold-plated brass sockets that were fixed on the walls to hang window curtains, the online newspaper Daily Mirror reported.

The Welikada police arrested the suspects while attempting to sell the stolen items on Sunday, it said.

The arrested suspects, aged 28, 34 and 37, are residents of Obeysekarapura in Rajagiriya.

The police said the three were also suspected drug addicts.

They will be handed over to the Colombo (North) criminal investigation division, which is handling the investigations into the incidents, the report said.

Based on initial investigations at least 1,000 items of value, including rare artefacts, have gone missing from the Presidential Palace as well as the prime minister's official residence.

Special investigation teams have been formed to begin a probe, web portal Colombo Page quoted the police sources as saying on Saturday.

What is compounding the agony for the investigative officers is that the Sri Lankan department of archaeology does not have a detailed record of the antiques and different artefacts at the presidential palace, even though it has been gazetted as a place of archaeological importance, the report said.

Sri Lanka , a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials.

Sri Lanka's total foreign debt stands at $51 billion.