Amnesty International has received several reports of intimidation and harassment of student demonstrators, in what appears to be an escalating effort by officials to curb student activism.On 21 October, police fired teargas canisters into a crowd of university students protesting near Sri Lanka’s Parliament building, reportedly injuring 20 students, 12 of whom were hospitalized. Water cannon were also used to disperse the crowd.A student group claimed the injuries were caused deliberately by police who fired the teargas canisters directly at the students. According to eyewitnesses, the teargas was fired at demonstrators from several directions, surrounding them and cutting off escape routes. Students who had trouble breathing started toretreat but were met with another round of teargas fired into the center of the crowd. Police reportedly fired teargas at the sidelines as well, trapping students who had attempted to take cover among some trees.
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Related Story :http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA37/013/2014/en