Fonseka surrounded
Tensions were mounting on Wednesday, however, after troops surrounded the Cinnamon Lakeside hotel in Colombo where Fonseka is staying.
Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna, reporting from the capital, said the intense cordon of hundreds of military personnel was, according to the presidential office, for Fonseka's protection.
The opposition candidate has admitted he was not registered as a voter and the presidential office said that revelation could create security issues, our correspondent said.
Fonseka told the Reuters news agency by phone that "these people have surrounded the hotel with military and threatened my security people".
"They had a plan to surround us and take us into custody and I don't know if this is that phase of that particular operation."
A spokesman for the military denied there were plans to arrest Fonseka but said about 400 people, including alleged army deserters, were inside the hotel with the general.
"We don't know what's their motive and as a protective measure, we have deployed troops around the hotel and people who go in and come out are being checked," Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told The Associated Press news agency.
In the final days of the campaign Fonseka had said the government had plans to either steal the vote or arrest him should he win.
The government dismissed the allegation, saying Rajapaksa would win the race cleanly and had no need to cheat.
Susan Hayward, a Sri Lanka analyst at the US Institute for Peace, told Al Jazeera that the government appeared to be concerned that those opposed to the possible re-election of Rajapaksa may take to the streets.
"There has been increasing reliance on the military in Colombo in the last few years," she noted.
Source :
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/01/201012723020377244.html
more sources :
http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?id=9015
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/01/26/srilanka.election/index.html
whats going to happen??
PICS
Video updated:
BBC video (outside the hotel)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8482306.stm?ls
I got an SMS saying that MTV network has been surrounded by the army..
Tensions were mounting on Wednesday, however, after troops surrounded the Cinnamon Lakeside hotel in Colombo where Fonseka is staying.
Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna, reporting from the capital, said the intense cordon of hundreds of military personnel was, according to the presidential office, for Fonseka's protection.
The opposition candidate has admitted he was not registered as a voter and the presidential office said that revelation could create security issues, our correspondent said.
Fonseka told the Reuters news agency by phone that "these people have surrounded the hotel with military and threatened my security people".
"They had a plan to surround us and take us into custody and I don't know if this is that phase of that particular operation."
A spokesman for the military denied there were plans to arrest Fonseka but said about 400 people, including alleged army deserters, were inside the hotel with the general.
"We don't know what's their motive and as a protective measure, we have deployed troops around the hotel and people who go in and come out are being checked," Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told The Associated Press news agency.
In the final days of the campaign Fonseka had said the government had plans to either steal the vote or arrest him should he win.
The government dismissed the allegation, saying Rajapaksa would win the race cleanly and had no need to cheat.
Susan Hayward, a Sri Lanka analyst at the US Institute for Peace, told Al Jazeera that the government appeared to be concerned that those opposed to the possible re-election of Rajapaksa may take to the streets.
"There has been increasing reliance on the military in Colombo in the last few years," she noted.
Source :
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/01/201012723020377244.html
more sources :
http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?id=9015
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/01/26/srilanka.election/index.html
whats going to happen??
PICS
Video updated:
BBC video (outside the hotel)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8482306.stm?ls
I got an SMS saying that MTV network has been surrounded by the army..
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