copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Pressing The “Cancel” Button Twice To Prevent ATM Thefts !! (Social Media Users, 2020-03-05)
Evidence (2024-01-17): Pressing the 'cancel' button twice after completing a transaction at an ATM will not prevent cyber-attacks or ATM fraud, information technology experts and banks confirm [...] Multiple social media posts, which have garnered tens of thousands of views, claim that pressing the ‘cancel’ button twice after withdrawing money from an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) will prevent an ATM PIN theft. [...] Pressing the ‘cancel’ button twice after completing a transaction at an ATM will not prevent cyber-attacks or ATM fraud, information technology experts confirm.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2024-09-08): The viral video claiming that a banner of President Ranil Wickremesinghe was recently destroyed in relation to the upcoming election is misleading. The event shown in the video is most likely from 2022 during the "Aragalaya" protests, and no such recent incident has been reported in the Tangalle or Walasmulla areas. As per our analysis, the location is near the Thangalle bus stand and clock tower.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2023-07-08): Days after protesters stormed the presidential palace in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, a video surfaced of Mr Kaluthantri lounging on a bed draped with the presidential flag. [...] Hours after Mr Wickremesinghe was elected, the military was deployed to clear the crowds at Galle Face. Dozens of soldiers swooped on the site, dismantling tents and other belongings of the demonstrators. Mr Kaluthantri himself surrendered to police and spent 21 days in custody on charges of desecrating the presidential flag. The case against him continues. "I have no regrets. I did it for the country and people," says Mr Kaluthanthri, who was suspended from his job for two months.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-07-10): - The development comes shortly after Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's house in Colombo was today set on fire by protesters. "Protesters have broken into the private residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and have set it on fire," said the Lankan Prime Minister's Office in a statement.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-07-13): Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency Wednesday as thousands of people mobbed the prime minister's office after the country's president flew to the Maldives, following months of widespread protests against an economic crisis. [...] Hours later, with no formal announcement he was stepping down, thousands of demonstrators mobbed the office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe -- who would automatically become acting president in the event of a resignation -- demanding both officeholders should go.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-07-09): - Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Sri Lanka after months of unrest over President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's handling of the country's economic crisis - The island nation of 22 million people has been mired by lengthy blackouts, acute food and fuel shortages and surging inflation in its most painful downturn on record - The parliament speaker says Mr Rajapaksa will step down on 13 July - The private home of Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe in Colombo was under siege and set on fire just hours after protesters stormed the president's official residence in the nation's capital - Wickramasinghe had earlier offered to resign and make way for an all-party unity government - Both leaders have reportedly moved to secure locations - At least 39 people, including two police officers, have so far been injured and hospitalised during the protests, hospital sources told Reuters
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-07-22): Six-time Sri Lanka’s prime minister, President Ranil Wickremesinghe had long aspired to the pinnacle of power, enduring setback after setback but always managing to recover from seemingly impossible defeats. [...] Wickremesinghe is a divisive figure, unpopular among Sri Lankans fed up with shortages of food, fuel, and medicine. Last week, protesters burned his private residence to the ground. [...] Wickremesinghe tends to keep his private life under wraps. He is married to Maitree Wickremesinghe, a professor and expert on gender and women’s studies.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2024-10-05): On 9 July, the Prime Minister's office announced that Wickremesinghe was ready to resign to make way for an all-party government as protesters stormed and burned his residence that day.[162][163] Later in the evening, protesters broke into the 115 Fifth Lane– Wickremesinghe's private residence in Colombo and set it on fire.[164] [...] Crackdown on anti-government protests [edit]Soon after he was appointed as the president, Wickremesinghe vowed to crack down on the 2022 anti-government protests. Wickremesinghe denounced the protestors as "fascists".[172] Security forces raided the protest site in Galle Face Green in the early hours of 22 July, a day after Wickremesinghe was sworn in. 50 protestors were injured and two were hospitalised.[173] BBC journalists were also attacked during the raid. Saliya Pieris, president of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, condemned the raid. British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Sarah Hulton, also expressed concerns.[174] [...] - ^ "Sri Lankan crisis: Protesters set PM Ranil Wickremesinghe's residence on fire". Hindustan Times. 9 July 2022. Archived from the original on 13 July 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-08-02): Three more persons have been arrested for allegedly torching Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe's private residence during last month's massive anti-government protests, taking the total number of arrests to seven, according to a media report on Tuesday. [...] On July 9, in remarkable scenes of a country in meltdown, anti-government protesters set Mr. Wickremesinghe’s private residence at Cambridge Place on fire. Mr. Wickremesinghe said much of the contents in his private residence were not salvageable, with extensive destruction to his 125-year-old piano and more than 4,000 books gutted.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-07-20): Wickremesinghe had already been serving as interim president since July 15 after his predecessor President Gotabaya Rajapaksa became the first Sri Lankan leader to flee the country and then resign. In a dramatic scene, protesters had stormed the presidential palace on July 9 and demanded that Rajapaksa step down, which he did on July 14 after leaving Sri Lanka. Although Wickremesinghe is backed by the country’s ruling coalition led by the nationalist Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), demonstrators had already been calling on Wickremesinghe to step aside ahead of the vote. Some protesters were burning Wickremesinghe’s effigy, according to the Associated Press. [...] Protesters are seemingly as opposed to Wickremesinghe as they were to Rajapaksa. A key demand of the demonstrators has been to abolish the office of the executive, which includes both Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister, in order to make way for an interim government for up to one year to help resuscitate the economy.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-07-20): Mr Wickremesinghe, a senior MP and leader of the United National Party (UNP) which once ruled Sri Lanka, has run twice for president and lost - in 1999 and 2005. [...] Mr Wickremesinghe then became acting president on 13 July when Mr Rajapaksa fled. But his new role got off to an inauspicious start when he declared a nationwide state of emergency, only to have it defied by thousands of protesters who stormed his office in the capital, Colombo. [...] One major reason people are angry at Mr Wickremesinghe has been his perceived closeness to the Rajapaksa family. Many people believe he helped shield them when they lost power in 2015.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-07-22): Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe cracks down on civil unrest with police raids against protesters A day after being sworn in as Sri Lanka's new President, Ranil Wickremesinghe is cracking down on civil unrest with raids by security forces on the protest camps that ousted his predecessor. - Security forces raided the protesters' encampments just after midnight - A police spokesperson said the protesters had no right to occupy government property - The crackdown comes a day after Ranil Wickremesinghe became President
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-07-13): COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled on a military jet on Wednesday after angry protesters seized his home and office, and appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president while he is overseas. Wickremesinghe quickly declared a nationwide state of emergency to counter swelling protests over the country’s economic and political collapse. [...] With no respite for citizens waiting in line for fuel, food and medicine, Wickremesinghe became increasingly unpopular. Many protesters say his appointment simply put off pressure on Rajapaksa to resign. But analysts are doubtful whether a new leader can do much more, instead fearing that political uncertainty will only intensify the crisis.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-07-22): Army soldiers remove the anti government banners from the site of a protest camp outside the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, July 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) [...] A man pedals past vandalized walls of the official residence of the president the day after Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected president in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, July 21, 2022. Sri Lanka’s prime minister was elected president Wednesday by lawmakers who opted for a seasoned, veteran leader to lead the country out of economic collapse, despite widespread public opposition. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) [...] They apparently considered him the safer hands to lead the nation through the crisis, despite public anger at Wickremesinghe as an example of the nation’s problematic political establishment. During demonstrations last week, crowds set his personal residence on fire and occupied his office.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-07-20): Protests resumed in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo Wednesday shortly after lawmakers elected the country's widely unpopular prime minister and acting president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as the new president. Wickremesinghe's election to the country's highest office predictably infuriated the protesters, who spent weeks staging demonstrations in Colombo demanding that both he and the former president resign over their perceived mismanagement of the country's economy. [...] Last week, months of simmering anti-government demonstrations reached a crescendo when protesters stormed and occupied the official residence of the president and the office of the prime minister. Wickremesinghe's residence was also set on fire. If Wickremesinghe manages to stay in power despite the protesters beating on his door, his biggest, most immediate challenge will be lifting the country out of the bankruptcy that has made the lives of common Sri Lankans such a struggle.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-07-20): Political stalwart <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/2022/07/20/ranil-wickremesinghe-is-new-president-of-sri-lanka/" target="_blank">Ranil Wickremesinghe</a> became <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/2022/07/19/sri-lankas-instability-a-serious-concern-for-india/" target="_blank">Sri Lanka's</a> president on Wednesday, securing votes from 134 of 225 parliamentarians, despite his United National Party holding only one seat in the chamber. His election was a blow for many protesters at the secretariat and adjoining protest camp in the commercial capital Colombo, which has been the epicentre of nationwide demonstrations which ousted his predecessor <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2022/07/13/sri-lanka-president-gotabaya-rajapaksa-flees-to-maldives-on-air-force-jet/" target="_blank">Gotabaya Rajapaksa</a>. Here's what you need to know about him. Mr Wickremesinghe is no stranger to <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/sri-lanka/" target="_blank">Sri Lankan</a> politics. A lawyer by profession, he was first elected to the country's parliament in 1977. His constant reappearance on the political scene, despite multiple failures to be elected president, has led him being called the "eighth wonder of the world" by his fellow Sri Lankans. Mr Wickremesinghe was born into one of the country's most influential families on March 24, 1949. His uncle, Junius Jayewardene, served as the Indian Ocean island's president for 12 years until 1989. Jayewardene, who died in 1996, was the original architect of his nephew's entry into politics.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2024-01-08): The CID has submitted a 250-page investigation report on the arson attack on President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence, which occurred on July 9, 2022.The report, spanning 250 pages, outlines various aspects of the incident, including lapses in police duty and preventive measures.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2024-09-09): A video circulating on social media shows a group of people destroying a banner featuring President Ranil Wickremesinghe in broad daylight. Many users claim this is a recent incident related to the upcoming presidential election. We conducted a thorough fact-check to verify the authenticity of the claim. [...] K. Kotagala, a provincial newspaper reporter from Walasmulla, confirmed that no recent incident involving the destruction of a Wickremesinghe banner had occurred in the area. He suggested that this might be an older event. [...] The viral video claiming that a banner of President Ranil Wickremesinghe was recently destroyed in relation to the upcoming election is misleading. The event shown in the video is most likely from 2022 during the "Aragalaya" protests, and no such recent incident has been reported in the Tangalle or Walasmulla areas. As per our analysis, the location is near the Thangalle bus stand and clock tower.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-09-12): The mass protests in Sri Lanka that led to the removal of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the appointment of a new president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, in July have now stalled. As Wickremesinghe cracks down on dissent, and demonstrators figure out where to go from here, many critics and experts have overlooked the role the country’s left has played in the protest movement. [...] Leftist parties’ presence also helped retain momentum in the period after May 9, when a mob supporting then-Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa attacked Gota Go Gama. After Wickremesinghe was appointed prime minister on May 12, many middle-class protesters stopped participating, because they believed he could stabilize the economy and reintroduce a sense of normalcy. As Balasingham Skanthakumar, a Sri Lankan researcher and editor, said, the movement needed groups that could marshal support and "reenergize the aragalaya." Leftists filled that vacuum. [...] The left is facing assaults from the authorities. Since Wickremesinghe became president on July 21, he has used several tactics to squash the protest movement. Armed forces, special task forces, and police have attacked and intimidated protesters, including many leftists, at Gota Go Gama, culminating in the removal of all camps from the site in early August.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-08-15): Now, almost a month later, residual feelings from the protests remain but have not made any significant impact. Sri Lanka’s new caretaker, President Ranil Wickremesinghe, extended the state of emergency and ordered security forces to dismantle the Galle Face Green Park protest site (known as Gotagogama). Wickremesinghe’s ascension to the presidency reveals a great deal about both the weakness of the protest movement in this nation of 22 million people and the strength of the Sri Lankan ruling class. In parliament, Wickremesinghe’s United National Party has only one seat – his own – which he lost in 2020. Yet, he has been the prime minister of six governments on and off from 1993 to the present day, never completing a full term in office but successfully holding the reins on behalf of the ruling class nonetheless. This time around, Wickremesinghe came to power through the Rajapaksas’ Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (Sri Lanka People’s Front), which used its 114 parliamentarians (in a 225-person parliament) to back his installation in the country’s highest office. In other words, while the Rajapaksa family has formally resigned, their power – on behalf of the country’s owners – is intact.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-07-13): The move came even as thousands of protesters stormed the office compound of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe — who has been appointed acting president — calling again for his resignation, while police responded with tear gas. [...] "I have ordered military commanders and the police chief to do what is necessary to restore order," Wickremesinghe said in a TV address. "Those who stormed into my office want to stop me from discharging my responsibilities as acting president." [...] Mahinda stepped down as prime minister after a mob of his supporters attacked anti-government protesters on May 9.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2024-10-08): Later that night, the Prime Minister’s private residence was gutted through arson under suspicious circumstances. An enraged mob surrounded it, likely provoked by social media alerts and live broadcast of brutal assaults by paramilitary police on journalists filming peaceful protests near his home. The Prime Minister had resisted demands for his resignation. He believed he could secure his position or even assume the Presidency following Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s removal. Wily as he is, he miscalculated. [...] During the violence on the afternoon and night of 9th May, the security forces passively watched the assaults and destruction but subsequently, over 2,500 persons were arrested including non-party affiliated protestors and cadre of the left-wing Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP—Peoples Liberation Front), simply from name lists furnished to the local police force by the President’s aggrieved partymen. [...] As they could not get near the President, they opted to march upon his office. The Presidential Secretariat faces the Indian Ocean – where ships in the distance wait to dock at Colombo’s harbour – and the Chinese-built ‘Colombo International Financial City’ rises from the sea, as a zone of exception for global capital free from taxation and regulation of money flows.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2023-08-18): Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe unveiled a slew of development projects for ethnic Tamil people during the annual feast at a popular Marian shrine, a move viewed as a form of wooing Tamils left traumatized by the 26-year-old civil war.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2022-05-19): On the morning of Monday 8th, hundreds of pro-Rajapaksa goons and lumpen bands on the government’s payroll, armed with batons, sticks and metal rods, violently assaulted two anti-government protest sites in the capital Colombo. Coming out of a meeting led by then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at his official residence in Temple Trees, they molested people protesting for weeks in front of the residence and destroyed their camp, before descending onto the "GotaGoGama" (GGG) occupation facing the Presidential building at Galle Face Green, one kilometer away along the seaside. Erected a month ago, this encampment had become a symbol of defiance to the regime’s authority, and a daily rallying point for all layers supporting the mass movement. The mob of pro-regime thugs unleashed extreme violence on the protesters present, torching tents and banners and bloodily beating many people. The police, present in large numbers, largely watched as the scene was taking place. "The police didn’t want to do anything" reported a Tamil woman witness to the events, adding that she was explicitly targeted for her ethnic background and endured chauvinist slurs. "We lost a lot of personal belongings, as they burnt our tents, our clothes, our blankets, everything" explained other protesters present during the assault. Dozens of them were critically injured and one youth was pronounced permanently paralysed afterwards.
Claim: A Recent Incident: Mob Destroying President Wickremesinghe`s Banner !! (Social Media Users, 2024-09-08)
Evidence (2024-09-17): On 9 May, the aragalaya encountered its first major challenge when angry government supporters destroyed the GotaGoGama encampment, beating protesters as police largely stood by.[2] More surprising than the attack was the sight of protesters fighting back, leading the pro-government mob to flee. Later that evening, across the country, anti-government protesters attacked the homes of roughly 100 ruling-party politicians, burning many to the ground. Who exactly organised the retributive violence remains unclear, but it tarnished the aragalaya’s reputation as peaceful and hardened attitudes among government and ruling party officials toward the movement.[3] The next day, Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as his brother’s prime minister. On 11 May, after intense negotiations, the president appointed Wickremesinghe, leader of the once powerful United National Party (UNP), as prime minister.[4] [...] [5] Wickremesinghe and police blame the protesters, but no one has ever been arrested and no concrete evidence about such a link has been presented. Nonetheless, Wickremesinghe regularly cites the fire as an example of the dangers arising from the protest movement. See "President sets ambitious timeline for Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring and reconciliation efforts", Presidential Media Division, 22 June 2023. [...] III. The Wickremesinghe Presidency