United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) parliamentarian Dullas Alahapperuma on Friday (24) said that he would like to apologize for using ‘lion flags’ without two vertical strips of equal size in green and saffron.

Addressing a press briefing Alahapperuma stated that the act was happened without knowledge of the organizers.

“That should not have happened. We regret the incident” he said. We are sorry if any person or a group was hurt because of that flag, he added.

The presence of the flag without the two vertical lines during two recent protests created some controversy. 

On Tuesday (21), the flags were seen in the protest outside the parliament in support of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. The flags were seen once more on Thursday morning at the protest outside the Bribery Commission in support of former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.