The protests and clashes between Fonseka and president Mahinda Rajapaksa's supporters continued as the former army chief's wife Anoma appealed for calm on his behalf.
Violence continued in Sri Lanka for the second straight day today as agitated supporters of defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka demanded his immediate release and fought pitched battles with police, who used batons to disperse them.
Tensions ran high on the island as protests spread from the capital to the suburbs of Maharagama as hundreds of supporters of the jailed former army chief came onto the streets shouting anti-government slogans.
The protests and clashes between Fonseka and president Mahinda Rajapaksa's supporters continued as the former army chief's wife Anoma appealed for calm on his behalf.
"Fonseka has asked me to convey to the people and troops to stay calm and not get provoked by his illegal arrest," Anoma said in a statement issued after she was allowed to meet her detained husband.
Though the opposition leaders claimed that number of their workers were injured in the clashes yesterday, there was no official word on it.
The opposition said it had enlisted the help of powerful Buddhist clergy to get Fonseka's release.
Meanwhile, Anoma appealed to the International Red Cross (ICRC) to impress upon the government to allow a military surgeon who attended on 59-year-old Fonseka.
She said that her detained husband needs to be under constant medical surveillance since there are fragments of shrapnel still embedded in his body and one is located close to his heart. Anoma appealed to the ICRC to treat this as a matter of utmost urgency and to facilitate this army surgeon to visit and examine her husband.
"This surgeon had attended on her husband after he was severely wounded in the LTTE suicide attack some three years ago and is familiar with the history of the case," the sundaytimes online reported.
The military arrested Fonseka, a retired four-star general, saying he was conspiring against the government of president Mahinda Rajapakse.
He lost the January 26 election to Rajapakse, his former commander-in-chief.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan government has warned Fonseka against providing "evidence to certain international organisations" on alleged war crimes during the final battle with LTTE as it took strong exception to his remarks that he would "reveal the truth".
"He has reportedly spoken regarding certain things that took place during the war. He also said he is going to provide evidence," media minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene said.
"If he (Fonseka) is going to give evidence to certain international organisations regarding incidents that have taken place after the war was initiated then I believe that the army has the right to question such a military officer," he told reporters, without naming the global bodies.
Wimal Weerawansa, the chief of the National Freedom Front, a partner of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), also cautioned Fonseka on the issue. "Why is a doubt being created in the world. He (Fonseka) was not the one who commanded all the forces," Weerawansa said yesterday, implying that the General was only responsible for army that time as its head, and not for Air Force and Navy.
"The state leader or someone in the political arena can say this. If something has taken place and you are revealing it, then we will make inquires about it. However, for a former army commander, who was there during the war, to make these revelations, it is a betrayal," he said.
Prior to his detention, Fonseka had said on Monday that he was "not going to save anyone who has committed war crimes," according to BBC Sinhala service.
Meanwhile, Fonseka would be tried by court martial for treason and "can be put in jail for as long as five years," defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa today said, though the government is yet to slap formal charges against him.
The court martial would start after a few procedures were completed, the powerful younger brother of the president and defence secretary Gotabaya said adding that the charges were "serious" and the general can be jailed for five years."
For the first time Gotabaya accused the war hero of "ordering the murders of journalists", claiming that he may be tried in both military and civilian courts.
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