Heavily-armed Sri Lankan soldiers (L) ride a motorcycle near the Jumha Mosque after a mob attack in Minuwangoda, Sir Lanka.
Sri Lanka reinstated the curfew on Tuesday, May 14, with a blocking of social networks extended to Twitter, the day after anti-Muslim riots that left one dead, three weeks after the jihadist attacks on Easter. Police said just over 80 people had been arrested in connection with the new violence.
Anti-Muslim riots , which occur in the middle of Ramadan, broke out in the North West Province of Sri Lanka on Sunday May 13th and left one dead. On April 21, attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels, claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State, killed 258 people .
Violence began on Sunday, especially in Chilaw (80 km north of Colombo). On Monday May 13, in the district of Puttalam, a 45-year-old Muslim was lynched in his carpentry workshop, police said. Elsewhere, groups attacked shops, homes and vehicles belonging to Muslims, as well as mosques.
Police said just over 80 people had been arrested in connection with the new violence, and were being held under the state of emergency.
“ Men on motorcycles started the violence”
A national curfew imposed on Monday evening was lifted Tuesday morning except in the Northwest Province. In a neighboring district, that of Gampaha, an electronics trader in the town of Minuwangoda (45 km north of Colombo) assured by telephone that on Monday “men on motorcycles started the violence. They were not from the city ” .
According to him, “they started to vandalize Muslim shops and throw Molotov cocktails and then the inhabitants joined them . “ Security forces eventually fired into the air to disperse the crowd.
A pasta factory owned by a Muslim was set on fire. Reached by phone, owner Ashraf Jifthy specifies that three of his employees were injured and that “the security forces were outside but could not prevent the attack, which occurred during the curfew” .
A mosque in Minuwangoda has been graveled. In Kinyama, two mosques were vandalized under the watchful eye of overwhelmed law enforcement. In Bingiryiya, “around 2,000 people surrounded our mosque and ransacked it,” according to a local religious official.
Blocking Facebook, WhatsApp, Youtube, Instagram and Twitter
The blocking of access to social networks imposed on Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and Instagram on Monday was extended to Twitter on Tuesday, internet service providers said. It aims to limit the dissemination of messages inciting violence.
In a televised address on Monday evening, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the riots could hamper the investigation into the Easter attacks.
A state of emergency was declared after the attacks, strengthening the powers of the security forces. Fifty-six suspects remain in detention.
Police chief Chandana Wickramaratne, for his part, issued a warning to rioters on television, stressing that the police were instructed to use maximum force. Sri Lanka, a predominantly Buddhist country, has around 10% Muslims and 7.6% Christians.
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