COLOMBO: Sri Lankan authorities issued shoot-on-spot orders on Tuesday to quell further unrest that has seen buildings and vehicles torched a day after the island was rocked by deadly violence and unrest.
With thousands of security forces imposing a curfew, the Defense Ministry said troops “have been ordered to shoot on sight of anyone looting public property or causing harm to life.”
On Monday, government supporters used sticks and clubs to attack protesters in Colombo who had been protesting peacefully for weeks over a severe economic crisis and demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Mobs then retaliated across the country late into the night, burning down dozens of homes of ruling party politicians and attempting to storm the prime minister’s official residence in the capital.
Police said Tuesday that eight people had died.
Protests continued Tuesday despite a curfew, with some people defying the order to shoot on sight to set buildings and vehicles on fire.
A luxury hotel said to belong to a relative of Rajapaksa was set on fire Tuesday night on the edge of the Sinharaja rainforest.
And police fired into the air in two places to disperse mobs trying to burn the vehicles.
Earlier, a crowd attacked and set fire to a vehicle carrying Colombo’s top police officer.
Officers fired warning shots and sent 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 supporters trying to leave the island, witnesses said.
In addition to the dead, more than 225 people were injured on Monday, which also saw the resignation of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
However, his departure failed to quell public anger, as his brother remains president and wields extensive powers, including commanding the security forces.
Mahinda had to be rescued in a pre-dawn military operation after thousands of angry protesters stormed his official residence overnight and threw Molotov cocktails.
Protester Chamal Polwattage said he hoped the demonstrations would increase again and vowed they would not go away “until the president leaves.”
“People are angry about the attacks launched against us yesterday… We have a lot of volunteers bringing us food and water,” the 25-year-old said. AFP.
‘deeply concerned’
The Rajapaksa clan’s grip 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 the foreign exchange needed to pay its debts, which it has now defaulted on.
But after weeks of peaceful demonstrations, Monday’s attacks on protesters by government supporters represented a turning point.
In the violence that followed, police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd and declared a curfew across the South Asian nation until Wednesday, but then extended it for another day until Thursday.
Angry mobs set fire to the homes of at least 42 pro-Rajapaksa politicians.
Several Rajapaksa houses were burned down, while a family museum in their ancestral village was destroyed.
On the outskirts of Colombo, ruling party lawmaker Amarakeerthi Athukorala shot two people, killing one of them, as he was surrounded by a crowd of protesters, police said.
The parliamentarian then took his own life, officials said, but the ruling party said he had been killed. The legislator’s bodyguard was also killed.
Another ruling party politician who was not identified shot and killed two protesters and wounded five others in the south, police added.
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday she was “deeply concerned” by violence committed by both government supporters and subsequent “mafia violence” against members of the ruling party.
Bachelet in a statement called for an investigation and urged the government to “engage in meaningful dialogue with all sectors of society.”
Unity government?
Mahinda Rajapaksa said his resignation was intended to pave the way for a unity government, but it was not clear whether the opposition would join any administration led by his brother.
The president has the power to appoint and fire ministers, as well as judges, and enjoys immunity from prosecution.
Political sources said that attempts were being made to organize an online meeting between the president and all political parties.
“Unless President Rajapaksa steps down, no one, whether it’s the masses in the streets or the major political players, will be appeased,” said analyst Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center. AFP.