Sri Lankan Prime Minister Rajapaksa’s house torched, seven killed in violent clashes

Asia-Pacific, News May 10, 2022 , by IRIA 1 Comment

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was forced to quit following the day of unprecedented violence in his country.

The ancestral house of the Prime Minister and President along with properties of several parliamentarians and ruling party loyalists were set ablaze by angry mobs all across the country. The authorities have extended the curfew to quell violence.

Seven people including a member of parliament were killed during the violent protests across the island nation of Sri Lanka. Several reports have emerged from all over the country where people have been attacking private properties related to the ruling party.

The violent protests in Sri Lanka started a few weeks ago when the country of 22 million started experiencing a severe shortage of essentials with a sharp increase in prices along with a large-scale energy crisis due to the lack of energy resources. It is termed one of the worst economic crises in Sri Lanka since its independence in 1948.

Shots were fired from inside the Prime Minister’s house on Monday in the country’s capital, Colombo, as thousands of protesters breached the main gate and lit a parked truck on fire.

During a separate incident in Nittambuwa, 40 kilometers away from countries capital Colombo, a member of the Sri Lankan parliament Amarakeerthi Athukorala was surrounded by a mob of angry protesters. Shots were fired during the scuffle that resulted in the death of a 27-year-old man. CCTV footage showed that the member of parliament and his security officers flee into an empty building following the incident. The parliamentarian was later found dead in the same building. The circumstances of his death have not been verified so far.

Agence France-Presse quoted a police official saying “The MP fled the scene and took refuge at a nearby building. Thousands surrounded the building and he then took his own life with his revolver.”

The recent and most intense wave of violence in Colombo started on Monday, May 10, after supporters of the ruling party attacked a protest with sticks and stones. At least 150 people were wounded during the attack. Angry mobs of people started to pour out on the streets all across the country targeting the ruling party members and its loyalists.

The house of Saman Lal Fernando, mayor in the Colombo suburb of Moratuwa, was set ablaze. Similarly, the houses of ministers Johnston Fernando, Kanchana Wijesekara, and Prasanna Ranatunga and lawmakers Sanath Nishantha, Ramesh Pathirana, and Nimal Lanzawere were also set on fire by angry people.

Protestors are also demanding resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of Mahinda.

*^{A Sri Lankan government supporter carries a national flag after attacking anti-government protesters outside the president’s office in Colombo. (Image Credit: AP)}*

A tourist hotel owned by a close associate of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s children was also set ablaze, along with a Lamborghini car that was parked inside. There were no casualties among foreign guests, police said.

“While emotions are running high in lka, I urge our general public to exercise restraint & remember that violence only begets violence. The economic crisis we’re in needs an economic solution which this administration is committed to resolving” Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa tweeted before announcing his resignation from the office.

The Sri Lankan government imposed a strong ban on imports in March 2020 in a bid to save the foreign currency that the country needs to pay back its $51 billion dollar debt. As the country was already swirling into an economic crisis due to the ban on imports, the diesel shortage sparked an outrage. The state-run electric supply company announced that it was enforcing a 13 hours-a-day power cut because it did not have enough diesel to run the generators.