{"id":3466,"date":"2022-05-13T10:08:42","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T10:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/?p=3466"},"modified":"2022-05-13T11:56:10","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T11:56:10","slug":"photos-of-a-protest-in-hambantota-2017-shared-as-security-personals-harassing-anti-government-protestors-recently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/photos-of-a-protest-in-hambantota-2017-shared-as-security-personals-harassing-anti-government-protestors-recently\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lankan Army soldiers harassing anti-government protestors? (PHOTO) Find out the truth\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Peoples\u2019 protests which started at the Galle Face premises, demanding the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and government to step down, has now extended for over a month. The peaceful protestors were attacked on May 09th<\/sup> by SLPP supporters, and it resulted in a wave of violence which spread across the island nation. The Police along with Sri Lankan Army were summoned to streets and curfew was enforced to maintain law and order of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within this context, we noticed a misleading photo post being shared on social media related with Sri Lankan Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social Media Posts<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The post seen below shared with the caption \u201cSri Lanka Army attacks civilians<\/em>\u201d shows scenes of a clash between members from Sri Lankans Special Task Force (STF) and a civilian, while a large crowd is seen in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Facebook<\/a> | Archived<\/a>  Facebook<\/a> | Archived<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at the comments to these posts, we noticed that some had assumed that these were the scenes of SL security forces attacking a person for looting private property, which was seen in many places in which private residences and properties were vandalized during past few days as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, is this a recent image of Sri Lankans Army soldiers attacking a civilian? We decided to do an investigation on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fact Check <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We did a Google reverse image of the image and was able to find the original photo, which dated back to 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Getty Images<\/a> | Archived<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The photo was captured on 7th January 2017, in the southern port city of Hambantota, by the AFP photographer Ishara Kodikara. It was a scene where the local residents along with monks and other groups were protesting against the creation of an industrial zone for Chinese investments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More details about those protests which happened in 2017 in Hambantota can be taken from here<\/a>. Archived<\/a>. An episode related with that protest from 2017 can be seen below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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