5 killed in Sri Lank as violence escalates

Colombo: Anti-government protesters surged through the capital city streets on Monday night, sinking the rudderless nation further into the chaos.

In the wake of violent protests between supporters of the government and antigovernmental protesters, at least five people were killed including a member of the parliament.

Emerging reports from the island nation say more than 200 people were injured in violence.

Protesters torched official residences and houses belonging to resigned Prime Minister and other ministers.

They surrounded the Prime Minister's official residence Temple Trees in Colombo, which is rare to happen since the emergence of modern states.

Police had to roundly fire teargases and water cannons vainly, to protect Mahindra Rajapaksa.

Agitated protesters burned the vehicles parked outside the PM's official residence.

At midnight, the military had to fire shots in the air to disperse the violent mob.

Sri Lanka has been seeing protests since its fragile economy spiraled into crisis.

Protests got stronger as the crisis deepened, with the government finding no way out.

On Wednesday morning, authorities clamped curfew to quell the violence.

Mostly peaceful protest turned violent since Monday after Mahindra Rajapaksa called in his supporters from outstations to Colombo.

Rajapaksa's erroneous step gave the protest an edge it had been so far missing.

His supporters attacked two peaceful protest sites—one near his house and the other beside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's residence in Galle Face Green.

One protesting Buddhist monk who had been long demanding Rajapaksas to step down was also attacked.

The attack by Rajapaksa supporters left more than 200 people injured, as well as they also burnt the tents where protesters were observing a hunger strike.

Police hardly took any actions to prevent the violence.

Now that they were attacked, peaceful nature of the protest quickly gave way to violence.

Ruling party MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala got caught in the protest. His bodyguard shot at the protesters in Nittambuwa city, located in the outskirts of Colombo, injuring three people.

The protesters attacked the MP and the bodyguard; later bodies of them were discovered in a building.

The Indian Ocean island nation is on the brink of bankruptcy and has suspended payments on its foreign loans. It defaulted on its foreign debt of $51bn last month, Aljazeera reported.

Inflation has soared to 18.7 per cent in March, just as the nations suffered shortage of hard currency, hindering imports of raw materials for manufacturing.

The US and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged Sri Lanka to end the political crisis soon and find a solution through dialogue.

The island nation is facing the worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948.

With inputs from IANS