Lanka Safe Tours

The Sri Lankan anti-Muslim riots were the series of religious riots targeting Muslims beginning in the Sri Lankan town of Ampara on 26 February 2018, and had started in Kandy District by 2 March until its end on 10 March 2018. Muslim citizens, mosques and other properties were attacked by mobs of Sinhalese Buddhists, and mobs of Muslims attacked Buddhists Temples and Sinhalese citizens. The Government of Sri Lanka undertook a forceful crackdown on the rioting by imposing a state of emergency and deploying the Sri Lankan Armed Forces to assist the Police in the affected areas. The situation was brought under control by 9 March. Two fatalities and ten injuries were reported among Sinhalese, Muslims and Police. According to the police, forty five incidents of damage to houses and businesses have been reported, while four places of worship have been attacked. The police have arrested 81 persons in connection with rioting.Rioting in Kandy District began in Udispattuwa and Teldeniya, later spreading to Digana, Tennekumbura and other areas. It was sparked when a middle-aged truck driver of Sinhalese ethnicity was assaulted by four Muslim youth following a traffic accident. The truck driver died of his injuries four days later. On 5 March Sinhalese mobs began attacking Muslim properties in the region, resulting in widespread damage to property while some mobs of local Sinhalese organized by Buddhist monks protected mosques from attackers. The riots, the first large-scale Buddhist-Muslim sectarian violence since similar riots in 2014, prompted the Government of Sri Lanka to declare a State of Emergency for a period of ten days, in addition to the police curfew already imposed on the district. The state of emergency is the first such since 2011.Social media networks including WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were blocked in parts of the country in an effort to prevent mobs from organizing their attacks and spreading propaganda. However, the block on the social media networks were uplifted after 72 hours and the cabinet minister, Harsha de Silva further stated that the social media networks have been returned to normal conditions by 10 March 2018. After three days of raid in the main town of Kandy, at least 81 people were reported to have been arrested including the main suspect, Amith Jeevan Weerasinghe by the Terrorism Investigation Division of the Sri Lankan police in connection to the incident as the situation has been under controlled by the forces. However, a curfew has been reimposed in the Kandy town until 9 March 2018. The police officers state that the unusual situation which prevailed in the country for few days has been brought under control but tight securities have been imposed in few parts of the nation as the predicted threats have been focused on the Muslim prayers on 9 March 2018 which is a Friday. The riots were denounced by Buddhist monks and many Sinhalese and Buddhist monks rallied to protect and help Muslims and Mosques during the prayers across the country. According to the Government, Independent observers, Muslims and Sinhalese in the area the majority of the rioters came from other areas of Sri Lanka to carry out the riots.The government revealed that about nearly 465 houses, businesses and vehicles were destroyed and promised to compensate for the families who were severely affected due to the communal violence.After few weeks since the end of the anti-Muslim riots, a new CCTV footage revealed that some police officials and politicians were aiding to develop the communal violences against the Muslims. It was confirmed that the deficiencies and ineffective attitudes of the police are to be investigated and questioned by the Sri Lankan government.
Continue reading...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.