Bite a bullet for this
SRI LANKA: CURFEW FOLLOWS RIOTS AS LEADER RESIGNS
Sri Lankan authorities issued shoot-on-sight orders yesterday to quell further unrest a day after the island was rocked by deadly riots. The defence ministry said troops ‘have been ordered to shoot on sight anyone looting public property or causing harm to life’. This bus was torched during clashes between government supporters and anti-government protesters.
Sri Lankan authorities issued shoot-on-sight orders yesterday to quell further unrest that has seen buildings and vehicles set ablaze a day after the island was rocked by deadly violence and rioting.
With thousands of security forces enforcing a curfew, the defence ministry said troops “have been ordered to shoot on sight anyone looting public property or causing harm to life”.
On Monday, government supporters attacked with sticks and clubs demonstrators in Colombo protesting peacefully for weeks over a dire economic crisis and demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation.
Mobs then retaliated across the country late into the night, torching dozens of homes of ruling-party politicians and trying to storm the prime minister’s official residence in the capital.
Police said yesterday eight people had died and more than 225 people were injured on Monday, which also saw the resignation of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
His departure, however, failed to quell public anger, with his brother still president and wielding widespread powers including command over security forces.
Mahinda had to be rescued in a pre-dawn military operation after thousands of angry protesters stormed his official residence overnight and lobbed petrol bombs.
Protests continued despite the curfew, with some people defying the shoot-on-sight order to torch buildings and vehicles.
A luxury hotel said to belong to a Rajapaksa relative was set on fire yesterday evening on the edge of the Sinharaja rainforest.
Earlier, a crowd had attacked and set fire to a vehicle carrying Colombo’s most senior police officer. Officers fired warning shots and sent in reinforcements to rescue senior deputy inspector-general Deshabandu Tennakoon, who was rushed to hospital but later released.
In another sign of deteriorating security, vigilante groups blocked the main road to Colombo airport to check for any Rajapaksa loyalists trying to leave the island, witnesses said.
Protester Chamal Polwattage said he expected demonstrations to swell again and vowed they would not leave “until the president goes”.
The Rajapaksa’s hold on power has been shaken by months of blackouts and shortages of essential goods in Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.
The pandemic torpedoed vital tourism and forced the government to halt most imports to save foreign currency needed to pay its debts, on which it has now defaulted. –
Eight people were killed and 225 injured