Tense situation at Passport office

A clash erupted between police personnel and Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) supporters who forcibly entered the Department of Immigration and Emigration (passport office) building in Colombo and damaged property. The FSP supporters had engaged in a protest outside the building demanding the release of the party’s politburo member Premakumar ‘Kumar’ Gunaratnam, who was sentenced to one year imprisonment for violating immigration laws. The protesters, mostly comprising university students, had behaved in a disorderly manner and then proceeded to storm the Passport Office, while causing damage to the building and its gate.