A New Democratic Front (NDF) demonstration outside the home of Finance Ministry Secretary Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma was driven off on Tuesday after local residents confronted the protesters and pelted them with cow dung.

The group, led by Sugeeshwara Bandara — formerly Private Secretary to ex-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa — had assembled in Pelawatta, Akuregoda, to protest the USD 2.5 million Treasury cyber fraud, Newswire reported. Residents of the Battaramulla area objected to the demonstration outside a private residence and refused to allow it to proceed, according to NewsFirst.

A tense standoff developed between the two groups, with locals angrily blaming the protesters and demanding they leave. Cow dung was thrown at Bandara and several others before police intervened to restore order. The NDF group eventually retreated without completing the planned protest.

The incident marks an escalation in the public dynamic surrounding the Treasury heist story. Earlier this week three civic and political groups — Sarvajana Balaya, the SLPP and Aragalaye Purawesiyo — staged simultaneous protests at the Finance Ministry and Central Bank of Sri Lanka offices. Tuesday’s NDF action shifted the venue from official premises to the Finance Secretary’s residential street, drawing direct pushback from neighbours.

The Joint Opposition later issued a statement condemning the violence against the demonstrators, expressing “revulsion and indignation” at the attack and accusing the JVP of resorting to “thuggery and intimidation” to prevent exposure of alleged frauds, Newswire and The Island reported. The Joint Opposition described the demonstrators as having been “viciously attacked and showered with human excreta, cow dung, rotten tomatoes, and lighted crackers” and said it “had no intention of being silenced by these shameful tactics.” The intervention transforms a residential confrontation into a formal political dispute over protest rights.

Dr. Suriyapperuma is scheduled to be summoned before the Committee on Public Finance on April 28 over Opposition allegations that 99% of the misdirected funds remain unrecovered. The original fraud — first publicly confirmed by the government earlier this month — involved a USD 2.5 million payment misdirected after hackers compromised an Australian Export Finance Agency email channel. Five officials from the Treasury, Central Bank and IT division have been interdicted.

Sources