Special probe reveals police used tear gas past shelf life on Aragalaya activists

A special investigation report into the Galle Face Aragalaya has found that the police used tear gas past the expiry date on protesters.An exclusive report released by the investigation team of the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR) led by journalist Tharindu Jayawardena with the help of the Right to Information Commission says that the police used a stock of tear gas which was more than 20 years old.

The report titled ‘Tear Gas – Tears of Twenty Million’ was released to the public at the CSR Auditorium on Tuesday reveals that in numerous instances the police haveused tear gas which was 10 to 20 years old.

And 6,000 tear gas canisters had been used in the first four months of the Aragalaya.

The police have purchased about 40,000 canisters of tear gas during the last ten years since 2012 and over 8, 000 have been used against various protests.

“As a journalist I have gone to cover many Inter- University Student Federation protest campaigns and have been subjected to numerous tear gas attacks. But the ones we experienced during the Aragalaya were far more painful. Therefore, we felt the need to conduct this investigation,” Jayawardena said.

“So we sought information from the Police Department on several occasions through the Right to Information Act but the latter didn’t furnish us with relevant and adequate information. Thereafter during four appeal hearings of the RTI Commission, the police were ordered to furnish full details but some sensitive information has not been provided to date.

The RTI Commission will act legally through the Magistrate’s Court against the Police Department in due course, Attorney Manushika Cooray said, addressing the gathering.The expiry period of a canister is usually five years but we have evidence that police used gas purchased in 2000, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2019.