A Sri Lankan court released on bail on Monday left-wing trade union leader Joseph Stalin, whose arrest last week for contempt sparked outcry and sparked protests by his supporters.
Joseph Stalin, a figure in the protest against former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was released a few days after his arrest on Thursday for taking part in an anti-government demonstration in May, despite his ban.
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Shortly after his release on Monday, the activist thanked UN Human Rights Council officials who advocated for his release and his supporters who marched across the country demanding his freedom.
"
The government cannot intimidate us with arrests
," Joseph Stalin told AFP, stressing that "
at least 50 other protesters were detained across the country
."
Joseph Stalin, named in honor of the late Soviet leader, whom his father, himself a convinced trade unionist and communist, admired, promised to continue the protest against President Ranil Wickremesinghe, successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
“
We will continue our campaign
,” he added.
Police arrested dozens of people accused of damaging public property during popular protests that lasted several months and culminated in the July 9 storming of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's palace.
Forced to leave his palace hastily, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had fled to the neighboring Maldives before taking refuge on July 14 in Singapore from where he resigned.
Ranil Wickremesinghe had declared a state of emergency and promised to crack down on troublemakers.
Joseph Stalin, secretary of the Sri Lankan teachers' union, is the oldest activist to be arrested in connection with the crackdown launched by the new government.
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The police notably arrested a demonstrator who had used a beer which he had seized in the bar of the ousted president before taking away one of his cups.
Another was arrested after taking two official palace flags which he has since used as a bedsheet and a sarong.
Protesters, however, handed over to the authorities about 17.5 million rupees ($46,000) in banknotes they had discovered in one of the rooms of the presidential palace.
Late last month, security forces dismantled the capital's main anti-government protest camp in a violent assault that sparked concern from the international community and rights activists.
Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people,