2019 Easter bombings anniversary: Thousands of Sri Lankans demand justice

Thousands of Sri Lankans dressed in white and black clothes held a protest here on Friday demanding justice for the victims of the devastating 2019 Easter bomb attacks that killed nearly 270 people including 11 IndiansNine suicide bombers belonging to the local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat linked to ISIS carried out a series of blasts that tore through three Catholic churches and as many luxury hotels on April 21 2019 killing more than 270 people and injuring over 500The bombings triggered a political storm as then President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were blamed for their inability to prevent the attacks despite prior intelligence being made availableThousands of people including Catholic clergy lined up for a silent protest on Friday the fourth anniversary of the bomb attacks They blamed the government for not taking adequate measures to deliver justice for the victimsThe protesters dressed in white and black held one anothers hands forming a human chain At 845 am local time a 2 minutesilence was observed for the victims The Church led by its Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith who has been at the forefront of the protests accused the investigating agencies of a major coverupPresident Sirisena and his establishment must be fully investigated Cardinal saidHe called for the full implementation of recommendations of a presidential panel of investigations appointed by SirisenaIn January Sirisena apologised to the countrys minority Catholic community for the 2019 Easter bombings saying the Catholic people hold no grudge against meI say sorry to the Catholic community for something done by others Sirisena had said Sri Lankas Supreme Court ordered him to pay SLR 100 million as compensation to the victimsAlso readSri Lanka delays presenting new AntiTerror Bill in parliament amid rising oppositionSirisena was the Sri Lankan president from 2015 to 2019A presidential panel of inquiry appointed by Sirisena after the attacks ironically found the thenpresident guilty of his failure to prevent the attacksHe however pleaded not guilty to the charge in the case filed after the panels findingsOfficials have charged dozens of people who allegedly received weapons training and participated in indoctrination classes from the two local Islamic extremist groups accused of carrying out the attacksBut no one has yet been convicted or sentenced Meanwhile the United States on Friday said it honours the victims of the Easter attacks their families and all affected communities and stands in solidarity with those awaiting justiceIn a Twitter message US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung said Today I remember the hundreds of innocent people including five Americans who were murdered four years ago in a horrific act of terror on Easter Sunday The US honours the victims their families amp all affected communities and stands in solidarity with those awaiting justiceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever