Sri Lanka: Police inaction as Muslim shops torched by Buddhists

[ranjeet]

Sri Lanka imposed a curfew in a central town popular with tourists after days of unrest between religious communities with a Buddhist man killed and Muslim businesses set ablaze.

Police said on Monday there had been riots and arson attacks since the weekend in Kandy district, while sources told Al Jazeera the violence was spreading throughout the South Asian island nation.

"The curfew was imposed to control the situation in the area," said police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera.

Police officers were placed on heightened alert in Kandy to ensure the "situation does not spiral into inter-communal conflagration", the government said in a statement.

Mobs set fire to Muslim-owned businesses and attacked a mosque in the east of the country.

Local officials said more than two dozen suspects had been detained by police in connection with the spate of arson attacks, while senior officers also launched an investigation into the conduct of the police.

Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, executive director of the Centre for Human Rights Sri Lanka, condemned the "unfathomable police inefficiency" that he said led to the violence.

"Social media pages rallied Sinhalese mobs to assemble in Teldeniya town at 10am. At 11am, there was a proclivity for violent confrontations to take place as mobs gathered. The destruction of Muslim properties started taking place from around 1pm," Tennakoon told Al Jazeera.

The violence worsened after a man from the island's mainly Buddhist Sinhalese majority died from injuries sustained during a riot.

Kandy is the latest region to be plagued by religious and ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, a nation of 21 million people.


https://twitter.com/amanashraff/status/970688687829803009
Aman Ashraff@amanashraff

For 30 years #SriLanka you witnessed your streets run red with the blood of your children. Have you forgotten the loss? The fear? The pain? The suffering? Have you learned nothing? When will you see reason? When will you act? #StandAgainstRacism #OneNationOnePeople #lka

9:23 PM - Mar 5, 2018 · Sri Lanka

• 
  54
• 
  64 people are talking about this

Twitter Ads info and privacy


Najah Mohamed, secretary of the National Front for Good Governance party in Sri Lanka, told Al Jazeera attacks are spreading all over the country, not just in Kandy.

"We are facing the same situation that we had experienced with the previous government with tension, hate, and violence against Muslims are rampant especially where they are a dispersed community,” said Mohamed.

Religious and ethnic violence can turn deadly in Sri Lanka, where Muslims account for 10 percent of the population and Buddhists Sinhalese make up nearly 75 percent.

Some observers blame the hardline Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) group for the ongoing violence.

"The violent BBS mobs manipulated the situation to fuel attacks against Muslims in an unprecedented way and started attacking people. In the afternoon the police and curfew were here, but there are still rising underreported incidents taking place,” Mohamed said.

Religious violence is not new to the island. An anti-Muslim campaign was launched following the deadly Aluthgama riots in June 2014.

President Maithripala Siresena had vowed to investigate anti-Muslim crimes after assuming power in 2015, but no significant progress has been reported.

Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe are yet to make an official statement on the recent unrest.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018...eted-buddhist-hardliners-180305165900594.html

https://twitter.com/x/status/970936078386384896

 

[newb3e]

on one hand muslims should learn their place on the other we cant be a banana republic with mob mentality

what do you mean by muslims should learn their place? what place are yu taling about when some idiotic fk comes and starts buring their livelihood

 

[NoOne'sBoy]

what do you mean by muslims should learn their place? what place are yu taling about when some idiotic fk comes and starts buring their livelihood

there are way too many mosques everywhere. you travel to kandy, there's a mosque every hundred metres which makes you think that sri lanka is a muslim country. these hajis are way too agressive thinking that we owe them shit. recently there were retards advocating under age marriages and sharia law in constitution. if they want that they should move to pakistan but if they try their shit in sri lanka they are up for a real surprise. we are not indians btw.

 

[IceCold]

on one hand muslims should learn their place on the other we cant be a banana republic with mob mentality

While you are at it please do tell us what that place would be?

 

[NoOne'sBoy]

While you are at it please do tell us what that place would be?

realise that sri lanka doesnt owe them shit and respect our laws and assimilate. simple as that.

 

[newb3e]

there are way too many mosques everywhere and these hajis are way too agressive thinking that we owe them shit. recently there were retards advocating under age marriages and sharia law in constitution. if they want that they should move to pakistan but if they try their shit in sri lanka they are up for a real surprise. we are not indians btw.

we also have retarted shits in our country they are all over the world! few in number! so should we just burn and kill everyone because of few?

and my dear friend if not for pakistan your country would be run over by LTTE!!! if not for Pakistan you would be nothing but indian slave!

 

[Maarkhoor]

on one hand muslims should learn their place on the other we cant be a banana republic with mob mentality

@waz @The Eagle

 

[NoOne'sBoy]

we also have retarted shits in our country they are all over the world! few in number! so should we just burn and kill everyone because of few?

and my dear friend if not for pakistan your country would be run over by LTTE!!! if not for Pakistan you would be nothing but indian slave!

pakistan is a country made for muslims in south asia with muslim laws and customs in mind, isn't it? so if someone wants to live under such conditions, he should consider moving to a country where his ideals and attitudes match more with the prevailing culture of the said country.

 

[protest]

we also have retarted shits in our country they are all over the world! few in number! so should we just burn and kill everyone because of few?

and my dear friend if not for pakistan your country would be run over by LTTE!!! if not for Pakistan you would be nothing but indian slave!

How is Pakistan related to this incident actually.

 

[IceCold]

realise that sri lanka doesnt owe them shit and respect our laws and assimilate. simple as that.

Are they not citizens of Srilankan ?

 

[protest]

If this happened in India, Pakistanis would have filled the pages with Hindutva rhetoric. What happened now, cat got tongue?

 

[NoOne'sBoy]

Are they not citizens of Srilankan ?

they are, if one of your grown kids start being a spoiled brat and disobey the order, would you not want to kick him/her out?

 

[IceCold]

they are, if one of your grown kids start being a spoiled brat and disobey the order, would you not want to kick him/her out?

Than your constitution gives them right to practice within the domain of their country.No? And if they are violating any rights as per you, than its the responsibility of state to act. No?

 

[newb3e]

pakistan is a country made for muslims in south asia with muslim laws and customs in mind, isn't it? so if someone wants to live under such conditions, he should consider moving to a country where his ideals and attitudes match more with the prevailing culture of the said country.

why dint your countrymen left when LTTE was screwing you? conditions were not right you guys were getting fked by tamil tigers! are you trying to say you are an idiotic fk who stayed behind?

fking filthy piece of shits you guys think you can fk with unarmed muslims and they wont react idiotic fks like you are the reason why we have terrorism in the world!!! idiotic bastards like you are the reason why injustic has prevailed and desperate youth is forced to take up arms and defend themselves and their communities!!!

but i dont blame ungreatful fks like you (who actually owe their exsistence to a MUSLIM COUNTRY) its us Muslims who are to be blamed because we staryed from the rightful path and became easy target!!

 

[NoOne'sBoy]

Than your constitution gives them right to practice within the domain of their country.No? And if they are violating any rights as per you, than its the responsibility of state to act. No?

for sure. that's why i said I don't like mob mentality in my first post. our state and law enforcement should take appropriate actions but the problem is the government is incompetent and useless. there was a muslim politician destroying a national park in the recent years to house muslim villagers and nothing was done about it.

why dint your countrymen left when LTTE was screwing you? conditions were not right you guys were getting fked by tamil tigers! are you trying to say you are an idiotic fk who stayed behind?

fking filthy piece of shits you guys think you can fk with unarmed muslims and they wont react idiotic fks like you are the reason why we have terrorism in the world!!! idiotic bastards like you are the reason why injustic has prevailed and desperate youth is forced to take up arms and defend themselves and their communities!!!

but i dont blame ungreatful fks like you (who actually owe their exsistence to a MUSLIM COUNTRY) its us Muslims who are to be blamed because we staryed from the rightful path and became easy target!!

owe my existence? LOL tamils make up 10% of the country. they would have been defeated sooner or later. let's be realistic. sri lanka also allowed you to use its air bases to refuel to attack india and pakistan arms imports were always there since 1980s and what made the difference in the latest war was some changes done to infantry tactics and political will to keep the war going isntead of bowing down to international pressure.