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D E M O’Cracy obituary notice 50 years on-by T. Ruth   Source:Island (Rohan Fernando, son of Dr. Riley Fernando who was responsible for the prank, wrote this article) The original D E M O’Cracy obituary was published in the State controlled Ceylon Daily News on April 24, 1974. It is relevant today as it was then 50 years ago. Curbs on freedom of assembly and of thought and expression Press censorship and curbs on freedom of assembly were a feature of the early and mid 1970’s. On April 20, 1974 the then United Front Government imposed a curfew to ban a series of islandwide protest meetings organized by the opposition. The Government sealed the offices of Independent Newspapers Ltd. (Sun/Dawasa group), which espoused the opposition view. Protests by the people and efforts by the Government to curb such protests and moves to stifle the free expression of thought and ...