Commandos surround hotel, arrest nine Fonseka bodyguards
(Created date: 28-Jan-2010) Back
by Norman Palihawadena
Army commandos had surrounded Hotel Cinnamon Lakeside, where Opposition common Presidential candidate General (retd) Sarath Fonseka was staying after Tuesday’s poll and arrested nine Army deserters who were providing security to the former Army Commander, Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. The deserters had been taken in on the compound of the Hotel.
He dismissed rumours that the former Army chief was being detained or held under house arrest. "He is free to go anywhere he wants," the Brigadier said.
He also said there were over one hundred retired Army personnel and others working for General Fonseka as security personnel and they were free to remain there. Asked why the commandos still remained within the hotel premises, the Military spokesman said it was to provide security to General Fonseka.
There were no restriction on the press to enter the hotel and meet with Opposition politicians who were there yesterday.
Speaking to media in the hotel premises, leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Rauff Hakeem, MP, said that General Fonseka’s movement had been restricted and described the situation as ‘almost like house arrest.’
"We as Opposition leaders would inform the President in writing and request him to grant the General free movement. We will draft the request presently," he said last afternoon.
