Gotabaya urges all to stop violence; toll rises to eight
250 people have been injured in Colombo and other parts of the island
Colombo, May 10: Embattled 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, even as the death toll rose to eight in the unprecedented violence that erupted after supporters of former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa attacked antigovernment protesters here.
Nearly 250 people have also been injured in the violence in Colombo and other parts of the country. A curfew is in force across the island nation after mobs burned down the ancestral home belonging to the ruling Rajapaksa family amid mounting anger at the worst economic crisis.
Though Mahinda Rajapaksa has quit as Prime Minister, this has failed to bring calm. “I appeal and urge people to remain calm & stop violence & acts of revenge against citizens, irrespective of political affiliations. All efforts will be made to restore political stability through consensus, within constitutional mandate & to resolve economic crisis,” President Gotabaya tweeted in his first comments since the outbreak of the violence that saw arson attacks on the homes of several former ministers and politicians.
Sri Lanka’s Attorney General on Tuesday asked the police chief to conduct an urgent and full-fledged investigation into the violent clashes between anti- and progovernment
protesters in the country.
Mahinda, 76, resigned as Prime Minister on Monday amid unprecedented economic turmoil, hours after his supporters attacked anti-government protesters, prompting authorities to impose a nationwide curfew
and deploy Army troops in the capital. The attack triggered widespread violence against pro-Rajapaksa politicians. On Monday, protesters attacked the ancestral home of the Rajapaksas in Hambantota, the houses of 14 former ministers, 18
lawmakers, including former Deputy Speaker, and leaders loyal to the Rajapaksa family.
Video footage showed the ancestral house of the Rajapaksa family in Medamulana in Hambantota city was burning. 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.