The Special Task Force (STF) and the Army were kept on alert with some 5,000 personnel deployed in the area to face any situation.
However, when former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka was brought to courts from the Prison under heavy police security and with prison guards surrounding him, the people who were gathered outside Court shouted “Senpathiyata Jayawewa.”
Those violent elements caused damage to at least two prison vehicles and a police jeep by attacking them with stones.
Sources said four prison officers who got caught amidst the mob had had been pulled by their uniforms and assaulted. Among the attackers were some political activists. In the melee, the vehicle taking Gen. Fonseka back
to prison collided with an escort vehicle. According to eyewitnesses, even a side window of the vehicle taking the General was shattered by a stone.
Meanwhile, Fonseka well-wishers banged on the closed doors of High Court No. 1 shouting "Atha-arapan ape General’. That was before Fonseka was brought to the Court premises. The persons near the doors got unruly and they had to be taken away by the police. There was loud and unruly howling.
After the announcement of the judgment, the situation turned chaotic. The judges were abused in foul language by certain unruly elements.
Even officers working in the Court and in the Court Registrar’s office started running all over in fear.
Hundreds of Mr. Fonseka’s supporters who gathered outside the court shouted slogans and expressed their solidarity.
Police intelligence units are on the trail of those who resorted to violence following the delivery of the judgment in the White Flag case at Hulftsdorp yesterday. Police said they were confident of arresting all the troublemakers within a day or two.
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