COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — About 300 civil rights activists protested on Friday against former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's efforts to re-enter politics as parties are gearing up for a parliamentary elections scheduled for next month.

The demonstrators shouted slogans and waved black flags in the capital, Colombo, to condemn Rajapaksa's decision to contest next month's parliamentary election.

Rajapaksa is popular with the country's majority Sinhalese, who consider him a war hero for ending the three-decade civil war in 2009. But increasingly autocratic moves weakened democracy and the rule of law, isolating Sri Lanka internationally. With his government accused of corruption and nepotism, he lost the Jan. 8 election to his defecting health minister, Maithripala Sirisena, who pledged full-scale political reforms.

On Thursday, party officials announced that Rajapaksa would contest the Aug. 17 election from a coalition of parties led by Sirisena.

The protesters also condemned Sirisena's decision to give nominations to Rajapaksa to contest elections.

Sirisena's decision to call fresh elections is seen as an attempt to consolidate power in Parliament and carry out his promise of reforms, which have been opposed by Rajapaksa's parliamentary allies.

Sirisena is also keen to secure cooperation of a new Parliament ahead of an internal investigation into war crimes allegations in the final months of the war. Both the government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels were accused of abuses, and prosecuting those crimes divides the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils.