Sri Lanka lawmakers engage in fist fight over Rajapaksa guards
Sri Lankan lawmakers engaged in a fist fight at the parliament Tuesday after an argument over the removal of army soldiers from the guards of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The fight occurred after the parliament started its session. There was an argument between opposition lawmakers and the parliamentarians supporting the government.
One of the lawmakers was hospitalized at the Colombo National Hospital, where he is receiving treatment for minor injuries and is under supervision.
After the fight, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya ordered the deputy speaker, Thilanga Sumathipala, to investigate the matter and promised to take action against the lawmakers responsible. Jayasuriya condemned the fight, saying it dealt a severe blow to the reputation of the Sri Lankan legislature.
Rajapaksa lost his bid for re-election in 2015 to his former health minister, but was later elected as a lawmaker.
Opposition members who protested inside parliament urged the government to reinstate the army security, saying Rajapaksa is under threat for leading the military when it ended Sri Lanka's long civil war.
The government said a security council decided to deploy only police officers, not soldiers, for the security of lawmakers.
Rajapaksa was the president when the civil war ended in 2009 with government forces crushing the Tamil Tiger rebels, who fought to create a separate state for the ethnic minority Tamils.
The security issue was raised in parliament by opposition lawmaker Dinesh Gunawardena, who said Rajapaksa faces threats as remnants of Tamil rebels are hell-bent to avenge their losses and urged the government to reverse its decision on the security guards.
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