Sri Lankan security forces raided an anti-government protest camp in the commercial capital Colombo early on Friday, two protest organizers said. 

Hundreds of security personnel surrounded the "Gota Go Gama" protest camp, mockingly named after the former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, past midnight and then took apart a section of it, the two organizers said.

At least 50 protesters were injured, the organizers said, including some journalists who were beaten by security forces. "It was a systematic and premeditated attack," protest organizer Chameera Dedduwage told Reuters. "They actually brutally attacked people."

Police and the army spokesperson did not immediately respond to calls from Reuters. 

Sri Lanka is under a state of emergency imposed by new President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Sunday. Previous emergency regulations have been used to give powers to the military to detain and arrest protesters, and curtail the right to protest.