Sri Lanka economic crisis: 8 dead in violent protests amid curfew, politicians’ homes set afire | Top points
The civil unrest in Sri Lanka has escalated to unprecedented levels over the past few days as the protests against the country’s government over the economic crisis continue. Mahinda Rajapaksa (76), who resigned as the Sri Lankan Prime Minister on Monday, is facing calls for arrest for inciting violence that claimed at least eight lives.
ALSO READ | How the economic crisis unfolded in Sri Lanka
A riot police officer fires tear gas cans to push back the supporters of Sri Lanka’s ruling party during a clash with anti-government demonstrators. (Reuters)
#UPDATE
Tense situation is Negombo where shops and vehicles torched#SriLankaCrisis #SriLankaProtests #Srilanka pic.twitter.com/AySswTAMt1— Nawfan (@Nawfan1234) May 10, 2022
Government supporters and police clash outside the President’s office in Colombo on May 9, 2022. (Photo: AFP)
Here’s a quick roundup of what’s happening in Sri Lanka:
1. Supporters of Mahinda Rajapaksa clashed with the anti-government protesters, who demanded his ouster over Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis that has led to acute shortages of food, fuel and medicines and prolonged power cuts.
2. Mahinda Rajapaksa quit his post on Monday but violence erupted in the island nation soon after his resignation. Soon after his resignation, the ancestral home of the politically-influential Rajapaksa family in Hambantota was set on fire by protesters. The homes of several ministers and ex-ministers were also attacked and set on fire.
People burn down the houses of MPs and ministers in Sri Lanka, the death of a Member of Parliament
#SriLankaProtests pic.twitter.com/0CpRcp7REK— AIMIM Party (@aimim_tweet) May 10, 2022
WATCH | Sri Lanka Economic Crisis: Protestors set Rajapaksa’s home on fire, how did the crisis unfold?
Demonstrators and government supporters clash outside the official residence of Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo. (Photo: AFP)
3. Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence on Tuesday ordered the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy personnel to open fire on anyone looting public property or causing harm to others. Nearly 250 people have been injured in the violence in Colombo and other parts of the country.
4. Prime Minister Mahinda’s House in Kurunegala was also set on fire by protesters while a mob also destroyed D A Rajapaksa Memorial – constructed in the memory of the father of Mahinda and Gotabaya – in Medamulana, Hambantota.
5. The Sri Lankan government has imposed a nationwide curfew and deployed troops in the capital, Colombo.
The office of the Former Minister @NaseerAhamedCM in Eravur, set on fire by protesters.#Srilanka #SriLankaProtests #SriLankaEconomicCrisis pic.twitter.com/nCP3OcRYSd
— Nawfan (@Nawfan1234) May 10, 2022
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6. The attack on Rajapaksas’s and other politicians’ homes sparked speculation that they fled to India. The Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka on Tuesday refuted such rumours as “fake and blatantly false”. Mahinda Rajapaksa, along with his family, was reported to have fled his official residence and taken shelter at a naval base in Trincomalee on Tuesday.
7. Anti-government protesters have reportedly set up a checkpoint on the road leading to the Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo to prevent the Rajapaksa family and its loyalists from fleeing the country.
#Breaking #Urgent #SriLankaProtests #SriLankaCrisis #SriLanka #Colombo
Protesters in Sri Lanka have gone to the homes and offices of corrupt government officials and burnt them down, as seen in this video. A large number of expensive cars and trucks are burnt to the ground. pic.twitter.com/3lPfTAnHhI
— Royal Intel (@RoyalIntel_) May 10, 2022
8. Sri Lankan Parliament Speaker on Tuesday requested embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to reconvene the House this week to discuss the current situation amid unprecedented violence and widespread protest against the government over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
Anti-government demonstrators take part in a protest near the President’s office in Colombo on May 10. (Photo: AFP)
“Damnatio memoriae”
Breaking down the statue of D. A. Rajapaksa.We are going to erase your & your family’s name from the history of the SriLanka.#lka #SriLankaProtests #SrilankanCrisis #GoHomeRajapaksas #GoHomeGota #Revolution # pic.twitter.com/XYD1EDUIeB
— Prasad Welikumbura (@Welikumbura) May 10, 2022
ALSO READ | Sri Lanka to turn off street lights amid longest-ever blackout as economic crisis deepens
9. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday urged people to stop “violence and acts of revenge” against fellow citizens and vowed to address the political and economic crisis facing the nation.
10. The Colombo Stock Exchange has declared Tuesday as a market holiday due to settlement difficulties, nearly a month after it remained closed for a week amid the worst economic crisis in Sri Lanka.
Om Shanti
Hungry For Youth people in Sri Lanka hunt for politicians and journalists, President Gotabaya urges citizens to remain calm as violence spreads across #SriLanka. #SriLankaProtests #SrilankanCrisis pic.twitter.com/SXjARZ0B0T— Sanju Singh (@Iamsanjusingh1) May 11, 2022
Video from last night shows the Former Minister Keheliya Rambukwella’s house in Kandy, a religious Buddhist area of #SriLanka, after Anti-Government Protesters set it on fire.#SriLankaProtests #SrilankanCrisis pic.twitter.com/I4bsUtamou
— Anonymous Operations (@AnonOpsSE) May 10, 2022
(India Today could not independently verify the veracity of these videos. User discretion advised.)
