{"id":88670,"date":"2019-05-13T23:44:08","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T05:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=88670"},"modified":"2019-05-13T14:54:23","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T21:54:23","slug":"sri-lankan-towns-rocked-by-christian-muslim-riots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/13\/sri-lankan-towns-rocked-by-christian-muslim-riots\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lankan towns rocked by Christian-Muslim riots"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy AFP<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
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AFP \/ LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHISri Lanka has been under a state of emergency since the suicide bombings<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lankan police fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse mobs attacking mosques and Muslim-owned businesses in several towns Monday, as the country suffered a violent new backlash from the Easter suicide bombings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police and troops fought off hundreds of Christian-led rioters in at least six towns in North-Western Province where a curfew was imposed, police said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Several shops have been attacked,” a senior police officer told AFP. “When mobs tried to attack mosques, we fired in the air and used tear gas to disperse them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The curfew started in the six towns but was extended across the province amid fears that violence could spread. There were no immediate reports of casualties or arrests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There is a strong political element to the riots today,” the police officer said. “There are people trying to make political capital out of this situation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, authorities banned Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media platforms after overnight riots gripped several towns in the region including Chilaw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian groups attacked Muslim-owned shops in a sign of the heightened tensions since jihadist suicide bombers attacked three hotels and three churches on April 21 killing 258 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AFP \/ LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHIFacebook was blocked after Muslim shops were targetted in Sri Lanka<\/strong>
<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe urged the public not to believe rumours and warned that civil unrest will stretch the already thinly deployed security forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I appeal to all citizens to remain calm and not be swayed by false information,” Wickremesinghe said on Twitter, which was not targeted in the social media blockade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Security forces are working tirelessly to apprehend terrorists and ensure the security of the country, but each time there is civil unrest, we increase their burden and hamper ongoing investigations.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A state of emergency has been in place since the bombings — which the Islamic State group claims to have helped — and security forces have been given sweeping powers to detain suspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Mosque attack –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police said a mob targeted Muslim-owned shops in Chilaw on Sunday in anger at a Facebook post by a shopkeeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Don’t laugh more, 1 day u will cry,” he wrote, and local Christians took it to be a warning of an impending attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AFP \/ LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHISri Lanka has been on high alert since the Easter Sunday attacks<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mobs smashed the man’s shop and vandalised a nearby mosque prompting security forces to fire in the air to disperse the crowd on Sunday, but the violence spread to nearby towns where Muslim businesses were also attacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A curfew was imposed until dawn Monday and reimposed after a 10-hour break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have already been clashes between Christians and Muslims in Negombo, the town north of Colombo that was targeted by the suicide attackers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main body of Islamic clerics, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), said there was increased suspicion of Muslims after the Easter Sunday attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We call upon the members of the Muslim communities to be more patient and guard your actions and avoid unnecessary postings or hosting on social media,” the ACJU said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internet service providers said they have been instructed by the telecommunications regulator to block access to Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest unrest came as Catholic churches resumed public Sunday masses for the first time since the bombings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worshippers were searched before being allowed into churches that were guarded by armed police and troops. There were no reports of disruption to services, however.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Schools reopen –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dozens of people have been detained since the Easter Sunday attacks. Amid the heightened security, students are only allowed into schools after checks for explosives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AFP \/ LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHIWorkshippers have started to return to churches in Sri Lanka<\/strong>
<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public schools completed their reopening from extended Easter holidays after the attacks, but attendance was extremely low, according to education authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private Catholic schools were to open on Tuesday, but many plan to stay closed until next week, parent groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslims make up around 10 percent of Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka’s 21 million population and Christians about 7.6 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.afp.com\/en\/news\/3954\/sri-lankan-towns-rocked-christian-muslim-riots-doc-1ge6ek2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy AFP AFP \/ LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHISri Lanka has been under a state of emergency since the suicide bombings Sri Lankan police fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse mobs attacking mosques and Muslim-owned businesses in several towns Monday, as the country suffered a violent new backlash from the Easter suicide bombings. Police and troops […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88670\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}