{"id":89010,"date":"2019-05-18T15:20:09","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T22:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=89010"},"modified":"2019-05-18T15:20:09","modified_gmt":"2019-05-18T22:20:09","slug":"outside-hand-suspected-in-kuliyapitiya-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/18\/outside-hand-suspected-in-kuliyapitiya-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Outside hand suspected in Kuliyapitiya violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Daily Mirror<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
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Daylight\n in Wayamba gives its residents the opportunity to assess the situation \nof their neighbourhood, following a grim and fearful start to the holy \nVesak week. The Police curfew enforced early Monday (May 13) evening in \nthe North Western  Province however, prevents them from setting about \ntheir daily work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mob violence broke out in several parts \nof the country on Monday resulting in an islandwide curfew which was \nlifted  at 4 am yesterday. However the curfew in the North Western \nprovince remained, as mosques and Muslim-owned shops were vandalised or \nset on fire by angry mobs. Tension continued to be high on Tuesday, as \nthe overnight curfew was lifted while roads remained relatively quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the curfew and heightened \nsecurity, in Giriulla, an outlier town in the North Western Province, \nseveral people were out and about their daily tasks, where the Police \ncurfew was still in force. Although shops remained closed for business, \nmen were seen travelling on bikes, with bags of rice and other rations. \nSome others were seen borrowing a minute or two to converse with a \nneighbour along the way. In inner corners of Giriulla however, the air \nis eerie and tense, with security personnel posted on every street. \nDoors and windows are firmly shut painting an eerie and grim picture in \nan otherwise pleasant, active town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/9ZxAodOgQqA\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In nearby Kuliyapitiya a family is \ngripped with fear, after mobs surrounded their residence on Monday \nevening.  M.T.M. Sapuwan, a resident of Karanthipola, Kuliyapitiya, was a\n victim of a heinous mob attack, which has left his family devastated \nand displaced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nA blackened frame of a two storeyed building sits under an expansive, \ncharred Margosa tree, on the Kuliyapitiya – Hettipola Road, where \nSapuwan lived. A warped frame of what used to be the ground-floor \nstorefront gate bends forward precariously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My family returned home from Wariyapola\n after breaking fast that day. We learned from our neighbours that the \nsituation wasn\u2019t good. They said several roadside eateries and shops \nwere pelted with stones, and our neighbours asked us to remove the \nvehicle from our house,\u201d Sapuwan recalled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together with his son, Sapuwan drove his\n vehicle to a friend\u2019s place, where they parked their car, fearing the \nworst.  Upon their return however, Sapuwan and his young son found that \ntheir house was surrounded by an angry mob of about 150 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of them even had swords and other \nheavy equipment in their hands,\u201d one of Sapuwan\u2019s two sons, who had been\n observing the frightening situation from the second floor of their \nhouse said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mobs broke into the store and \nstarted crashing the clay pots and other wares on the floor. My son \ncalled me from the house, saying that the mobs were about to do \nsomething terrible. My other son and I had no option, but to hide in the\n land opposite our house, waiting for a chance to rescue my family\u201d he \nsaid.   We called the Police, and tried calling everyone we knew to \ncome and help us.  By that time, the crowds began to slowly disperse. \nOne of them called that it was enough. But another started to run across\n the street, calling out for someone to give him a box of matches. They \nreturned with a petrol can,\u201d Sapuwan recalled. One attacker was then \nheard saying that they\u2019ve caused enough damage. Another was heard \ndisagreeing, saying that Sapuwan\u2019s home must be set on fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as they feared, the mob set fire to\n their store. The plastic goods immediately caught fire and soon the \nground floor was engulfed in flames.  My wife, son, daughter and \ngrandchild were trapped upstairs,\u201d Sapuwan said, adding that his \nneighbour managed to distract the crowd enough for Sapuwan and his son \nto rescue his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The store, full of goods to be sold \nduring the Eid festival, had at this point started to burst and spew \nash. My son called and said that they couldn\u2019t bear the heat anymore,\u201d \nSapuwan said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the help of his neighbour, Sapuwan \ncame out of hiding and helped his son out of the house, down the \nvolcanic staircase. Army personnel who arrived at the scene, then helped\n his wife and children out of the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We called the Police as soon as they \nstarted attacking our house. But they only arrived at the scene when it \nwas too late. We kept watch over our house until dawn,\u201d the family said \nas they were of the view that someone would plant suspicious material \ninside the store,\u201d Sapuwan said, staring at the blackened remains of his\n residence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile the Kuliyapitiya Urban \nCouncil\u2019s pleas to provide the area with a fire brigade, have fallen on \ndeaf ears, according to Councillors. This area has a number of coir \nworkshops which are prone to fires. Whenever there\u2019s an incident, we \nhave to wait for a fire engine to be deployed from either Kurunegala or \nChilaw, by which time, everything is destroyed by the fire,\u201d one \ncouncillor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Sapuwan, Sinhalese too were\n shocked by this incident. With water provided by the Pradeshiya Sabha, \nthe fire was doused with help from the neighbours. But now, Sapuwan has \nlost everything. It was our Sinhalese brothers and sisters who helped \nus, even in this situation. We don\u2019t believe anyone from our \nneighbourhood in Kuliyapitiya was involved,\u201d he added. Sapuwan\u2019s family \nnow resides with the neighbouring Sinhalese family, whose members have \nhoused them since the ill-fated day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although many shops and buildings \nsuffered from stone-pelting, the attack on Sapuwan\u2019s home was the most \ndetestable of them all.  Kuliyapitiya Mayor Lakshman Adhikari says that \ncalm has been restored in Kuliyapitiya. We were expecting the situation\n in the country to return to normal this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately this incident disturbed the calm, which we had maintained for years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Only 12 per cent of the population in \nKuliyapitiya is Muslim. They are a peace-loving people and they have \nbeen co-existing with the community peacefully, all these years,\u201d \nAdhikari, who has been the Mayor of the city during two prior tenures, \nassured. Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, following a visit to the \narea, has assured that peace will be maintained in Kuliyapitiya. The \nMayor was also seen guiding relief programmes for the victims of the \nattacks as well as the shocked residents of the area. Police sources \nrevealed that four suspects were arrested in connection to the attacks \nin Kuliyapitiya. We\u2019re going through surveillance and CCTV footage to \nidentify the perpetrators,\u201d an officer attached to the Kuliyapitiya \nPolice station said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Close-knit Hettipola attacked by rioters <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In Hettipola, Panduwasnuwara, more than \n80 shops, houses and buildings owned by Muslims have been the targets of\n vicious mob attacks. While Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and \nMinisters Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Rauff Hakeem and Kabir Hashim visited\n the affected families in the area, residents were visibly shaken by the\n violence that unfolded on Monday (May 13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the Kuliyapitiya-Hettipola main \nroad, vegetable stalls and roadside eateries were vandalised and \nattacked around 1.30 pm on Monday. Nawfer, a resident of Kotampitiya, \nsaid that the mobs started the attacks by pelting stones at their houses\n and shops. As soon as they started to attack, the police announced the\n curfew and the mobs retreated,\u201d Nawfer recalled. According to Nawfer\u2019s \nwife, about 1,000 rioters then followed the police vehicles. They were \nbeyond the police officers\u2019 control,\u201d she said. We abandoned our houses,\n and ran towards the fields at the back of our house, to escape from the\n mobs, with our neighbours and their children,\u201d she reminisced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dozens of families along Kotampitiya, followed suit, as the crowds began to break into Muslim houses and smash mirrors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They didn\u2019t loot, but they broke-in and\n broke all the mirrors of our houses,\u201d Nawfer said. His family believes \nthat even though the majority of the mobs were outsiders, their attack \ncouldn\u2019t have been carried out without the help of a few villagers. How\n could they identify which house was owned by Muslims?\u201d they questioned.\n M. Deen, the proprietor of the neighbouring eatery, said that the \nPolice were overwhelmed by the mobs, despite their best efforts to \ncontrol the situation and ensure the safety of the villagers. M.C.M \nAbdul Bari said his brother\u2019s motor spare parts store was completely \ngutted in fire, causing them losses in millions of rupees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Masjid Al Huda, the central mosque in \nHettipola, was attacked by the same mobs on Monday evening. The \ncaretaker of the mosque, Mohammed Saleem, believes that it was a well \norganised attack. Trouble started brewing in Chilaw, over a facebook \npost and now it has reached us. During the past 12 hours, the mobs \ncarried out vast property damage to this area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe their only motive was this, I never felt that bloodshed was their intention,\u201d Saleem said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our families have been living here for \ngenerations.  We have been educated at Sinhala schools. It\u2019s very \nunlikely that the villagers orchestrated this attack. Young girls from \nthis area, work in a nearby apparel factory, during all sorts of odd \nhours of the day. Their safety has been assured by the entire community,\n including the Muslims. This is an attack instigated by a few rebellious\n minds. It may have no solution, but we hope there will be an answer for\n this unanswerable question,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Courtesy Daily Mirror Daylight in Wayamba gives its residents the opportunity to assess the situation of their neighbourhood, following a grim and fearful start to the holy Vesak week. The Police curfew enforced early Monday (May 13) evening in the North Western  Province however, prevents them from setting about their daily work. Mob violence broke […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89010","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=89010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}