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Police and politicians backed by the country’s former strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse joined anti-Muslim riots that rocked Sri Lanka’s Kandy district this month, according to witnesses, officials and CCTV footage reviewed by Reuters. Scores of Muslim mosques, homes and businesses were destroyed as mobs ran amok for three days in Kandy, the central highlands district previously known for its diversity and tolerance. The government declared a state of emergency and blocked social media platforms for a week to control the unrest. The role of police and some local Buddhist politicians suggests the Sri Lankan government lost control of elements of its security forces, and that the violence was more than a spontaneous outbreak fuelled by fringe Buddhist extremists and hate-speech spread on social media. Rajapakse has denied that he or other leaders of his party were involved. Police said the allegations against officers and politicians were being investigated. Victims and witnesses, whose accounts were partly backed by CCTV footage seen by Reuters, described members of an elite paramilitary police unit, the Special Task Force (STF), assaulting Muslim cleric and leaders. Local STF commanders  declined to comment. “They came to attack,” said A H Ramees, a cleric at a mosque where worshippers say they were beaten by police who were supposed to be protecting them. “They were shouting. There was filthy language. They said all the problems were because of us, that we were like terrorists.” Ruwan Gunasekera, a spokesman for the national police force, including the STF, said a special investigation unit was “probing the deficiencies of the police in the incident”. A second unit was examining the role of political actors, he said. The riots were the latest example of rising Buddhist nationalism and anti-Muslim sentiment in the region and have unnerved Sri Lanka’s multi-ethnic coalition government, which ousted Rajapakse in an election in 2015, according to analysts and two sources familiar with the government’s deliberations. Buddhists make up about 70% of Sri Lanka’s 21mn people. Tamils, most of whom are Hindu, account for 13% while Muslims make up about 9% of the population. Sri Lanka’s Law and Order Minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara has said the violence in Kandy was “well organised” and pointed the finger at members of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), a political party backed by Rajapakse that scored a huge victory in local elections last month. At a press conference flanked by senior leaders earlier this month, Rajapakse said the accusations were politically motivated. In fact, the government fomented the violence to “get the Muslim vote” and to distract from its inadequacies, he said. The violence in Kandy was triggered by an attack on a Buddhist truck driver, HG Kumarasinghe, by four Muslim men after a traffic dispute on February 22. As Kumarasinghe lay in a coma, calls for retribution flooded social media and the government ordered the deployment of 1,000 members of the STF. Rioting erupted after his  funeral 11 days later. An excerpt of CCTV footage from the first day of attacks reviewed by Reuters showed police letting a large group of men through the cordon protecting the Noor Jummah mosque in  Digana, a Kandy township. The men rush into a multi-story building opposite the mosque. A local SLPP politician, Samantha Perera, can be seen pointing at the higher floors of the building. Perera confirmed he was the person shown in the footage. He said he was trying to calm the rioters and only found out later the mosque had been attacked. “I am a good Buddhist. I am not instigating violence against  anybody,” he told Reuters. Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said Perera was under investigation for “attacking Muslim-owned shops and mosques with stones”. At least three other SLPP politicians, including a national politician, were being investigated and another SLPP councillor has been arrested for setting fire to a mosque, he said. All deny any involvement in the violence. “There’s a political motive to discredit me, Mahinda Rajapaksa and the party,” Perera said. Anti-Muslim sentiment has surged in Sri Lanka since 2009, when a long civil war against Tamil insurgents was brutally ended by Rajapakse amid charges by a United Nations panel of experts of human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings by the military and STF. The Sri Lankan Secretariat for Muslims, a civil society group, logged more than 600 attacks and threats to Muslims in the past five years, according to director Hilmy Ahamed, who added the rate of anti-Muslim violence had accelerated in the recent years. “The fear that Muslims are going to take over, are going to deprive you of your welfare, is so widespread,” he said. Veteran political analyst Jayadeva Uyangoda said Buddhist chauvinism in Sri Lanka was a “monster beyond control”. About 10 minutes after the incident near the Noor Jummah mosque shown in the CCTV footage, the mob returned via a back road, out of the line of sight of the mosque’s exterior cameras, and threw a petrol bomb into the mosque’s first floor office, according to witnesses Mohamed Niyaskhan, who said he was beaten and left bloodied, and the mosque secretary M I M Shukry. Niyaskhan said earlier that day he had prepared food and drinks for STF members protecting the mosque, but they had left shortly before the attack. “No STF, no police were there,” he said. “They had gone around the corner. Can you  believe it?” Later that day, eight to 10 members of the STF rushed the Hijrapura mosque, also in Digana, according to clerics and worshippers. The police assaulted worshippers with batons, according to Ramees, the cleric. CCTV footage shows police in riot gear striking Ramees and another cleric, M S M Nizam, four times with batons. A local Buddhist monk, Gerendigala Chanda Wimala, said he saw the men being manhandled by police and successfully demanded their release. At about the same time, a local Muslim politician, Abdul Saleem Mohamad Fazil, and a friend Mohamad Faizal, were also attacked by members of the elite police unit, according to the victims and a witness, Father Christy Paul, the prelate at  Digana’s Catholic church. “Three STFs came through the back entrance of the house and started beating us,” said Fazil, who suffered a deep head wound and said he spent in a night in prison after being refused  medical treatment. “They grabbed some bottles from the landing and put them in a bag and said we were making petrol bombs.” Father Christy said he heard the men’s screams and saw the police hitting them with batons. The men were cowering on the ground and not offering any resistance to the police, he said. A local STF commander, asked about the incidents described to Reuters, declined to comment, citing restrictions on talking to the media. The law and order ministry referred to the police special investigation into alleged abuses. Police say they have arrested more than 300 people involved in the riots.

Sri Lankan fuel retailer Lanka IOC has raised retail prices for gasoline and diesel, the company said yesterday, due to losses incurred after the government’s failure to  implement a pricing formula. The move by Lanka IOC, one of two fuel retailers along with state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corp (CPC), will put pressure on the government to raise prices at pumps, which are normally set in talks between the government and retailers. Lanka IOC, a subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation, said it had incurred losses during the last four consecutive quarters and the cumulative loss was Rs1.3bn ($8.35mn). “Despite prices of petroleum products going up significantly, selling price of petrol and diesel has not been revised which has resulted in heavy losses to oil companies,” Lanka IOC’s managing director Shyam Bohra said. “Increase in taxes and depreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee has also significantly affected the margins of oil companies.” Under pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to boost revenue, the government increased the excise duty on diesel by Rs10 to Rs13 per litre from August 20, but asked fuel retailers not to pass on the cost to consumers. Lanka IOC, which has around a one-third market share in the country, increased the price of gasoline by Rs9 to Rs126 a litre and diesel by Rs5 to Rs100. “By this increase itself our volume will come down. We will lose volume and market share with this increase,” he said. State-owned fuel retailer CPC said it had not taken a decision on whether to increase prices. Bohra said his company was incurring a loss of Rs12 per litre of petrol and Rs17 per litre of diesel as of Friday, and the decision to raise the price was taken after the government did not act itself.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, centre, arrives to attend the Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad yesterday.

Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse-backed joint opposition yesterday submitted a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, accusing him of financial mismanagement and failing to tackle anti-Muslim riots early this month in central Kandy district. The motion was handed over to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, a spokesman for the joint opposition (JO) said.  He said 51 members of the JO and four legislators from President Maithripala Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) had signed the motion. The motion calls for the removal of Wickremesinghe for appointing a non Sri Lankan as the governor of the Central Bank, allegedly protecting those responsible for the Central Bank Bond issues scam and failing in his duty as the law and order minister to tackle anti-Muslim riots early this month. Wickremesinghe, 68, was recently replaced as law and order minister after clashes erupted in the central Kandy district. Anti-Muslim violence in the island’s central hills Kandy and Ampara districts left three people dead. Despite the JO’s claim that some members of Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) would sign the motion, no member of the prime minister’s party signed the motion. Since Rajapakse’s new party defeated the ruling coalition in the February 10 local council election, pressure has mounted on Wickremesinghe to resign. Sirisena is reportedly making overtures to Rajapakse to join hands to sack Wickremesinghe. Responding to the ongoing feud between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe, senior ministers Rajitha Senaratne and Champika Ranawaka had urged the two leaders to work out a compromise to further the government of national unity. However, there was no immediate danger to Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as the Rajapakse-faction of the SLFP had failed to muster the mandatory 113 votes for the resolution to succeed.

A Sri Lankan court has remanded an army officer, who was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for allegedly using his Facebook account to spread hate speech, to police custody, local media reported.  The CID informed the court that the suspect, a resident of Gampaha district, had shared hate speech through his Facebook page in a manner detrimental to the peace and harmony among religious and ethnic communities. He was arrested on March 17.  Colombo Chief Magistrate Lal Ranasinghe Bandara rejected the bail application filed by the defence attorney claiming that the CID had not produced the allegations against the suspect, Krishan Srinath Perera, with  evidence.  The magistrate further pointed out that the court has no powers to grant bail to the suspect since he was charged under Section 3 of the Civil and Political Rights Act.  The magistrate ordered the CID to present the suspect’s computers and mobile phones to the government analyst’s department for examination and produce a  report in court.  The magistrate also directed the CID to obtain a comprehensive report from the Facebook Company about the particular page and present it on the next hearing date.

Sri Lankan Tourism Minister John Amaratunga yesterday expressed confidence in the country attracting over 2.5mn tourists in 2018. Amaratunga said he had urged the embassies to lift travel restrictions issued against Sri Lanka and assured the island was now safe for tourists. “My ministry will write to the embassies briefing them that the state of emergency has been lifted and the situation is now normal. Despite cancellations this month due to the violence, we are confident the numbers will pick up as Sri Lanka is a popular tourist destination,” he told Xinhua. Amaratunga further said the country will host several international events this year including an international golf tournament and international stage shows with popular artistes. He said several events were also planned to attract more Chinese tourists into the island country. “China is one of our leading markets and we will take all steps to ensure we attract more Chinese tourists. We have several events planned including a mega digital advertising campaign in leading Chinese cities,” the minister said. Local media reports over the weekend said that tourism in the Central Hills had suffered a blow following communal violence which erupted in Kandy, earlier this month which left three dead, several injured and houses, shops, mosques and temples burnt and damaged. Police said more than 300 people had been arrested to date over the violence and things had now returned to normal across the Kandy district. The state of emergency imposed on March 6 was lifted by President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday after assessing the public safety situation.

Sri Lanka’s president announced yesterday he is lifting a nationwide state of emergency imposed 12 days ago to quell anti-Muslim riots in which three people died and hundreds of shops were destroyed. Maithripala Sirisena said improvements in the security situation prompted him to end the emergency, under which security forces and the police had sweeping powers to detain  suspects. “Upon assessing the public safety situation, I instructed to revoke the state of emergency from midnight yesterday,” Sirisena said on Twitter as he returned to the island after a tour of Japan. Much of the anti-Muslim violence was concentrated in the central district of Kandy, 115km (72 miles) northeast of the  capital Colombo. Police said the situation in the picturesque hill resort has returned to normal. Security forces have been deployed to help rebuild damaged homes and businesses, officials said. More than 300 people have been arrested in connection with the riots, and they have been remanded in custody till the end of this month. The state emergency also allowed Sirisena to call in the military after police initially failed to control the riots that spread to several suburbs of Kandy. There were a few isolated incidents elsewhere on the island too. The unrest started after a Sinhalese man beaten up by four Muslim men in a road rage incident died at a hospital in Kandy earlier this month. The following day, Sinhalese mobs set fire to Muslim-owned homes and businesses. The body of a 24-year-old Muslim man was pulled out of a burnt home, raising tensions further. The next day, a Sinhalese man died when a hand grenade he was carrying exploded before he could attack a mosque. This was the first state of emergency imposed in Sri Lanka since the end of a decades-long Tamil separatist war in 2009. Sri Lanka’s parliament issued an apology to its Muslim minority, which constitutes 10% of the country’s population of 21mn. Sinhalese account for about three quarters of the population. Last November, riots between the Muslims and the Sinhalese - who are largely Buddhist - in the south of the island left one man dead and homes and vehicles damaged.

Sri Lanka on Sunday lifted an island-wide state of emergency that had been declared to control the spread of ethnic clashes in the country, a spokesman for the president's office said. Emergency was declared on March 6 after mobs from the Sinhala majority community attacked shops and houses belonging to Muslims in the central district of Kandy. The situation was brought under control following the deployment of security forces, the spokesman said. Over 400 people were arrested during the unrest. Clashes first broke out after a Sinhala lorry driver was assaulted by Muslims in a small village outside Kandy and killed.

Sri Lankan Muslims and supporters have demanded that the world organisation act to ensure that minorities are protected in the island nation and those behind the recent violence against their community are brought to justice. About 250 people joined a demonstration outside the UN organised on Wednesday by The Association of Sri Lankan Muslims in North America (Tasmina), which asked the UN to intervene and hold the Sri Lankan government responsible for bringing the rioters to justice. Ghazzali Wadood, who was one of the protesters, said: “It is the ultra-nationalists who are responsible for the attacks. The government should take action against the politicians behind the attacks.” The protesters carried signs asking their “mother” Sri Lanka to protect them while denouncing the anti-Muslim attacks. For some at the demonstration, it was an intimate family tragedy that unfolded chillingly thousands of kilometres away live on their phones in the era of instant communications. They narrated to IANS the harrowing moments they went through as they helplessly shared the trauma in real time over the phone with their families as the relatives were besieged by mobs during the riots. Munir Salim’s parent’s home was destroyed and car set ablaze by a rampaging mob in Welekada Ambalateena near Kandy on March 6, and his elderly parents and his sister with her five children barely managed to survive only because the rioters could not break the main door. But they set fire to the second floor of the house, where his sister lived, said Salim, who is the president of the Sri Lanka Muslim Association of New Jersey. His sister fled downstairs with her children and survived with her parents, he added. “I was feeling helpless talking to my parents when they first told me how they were throwing stones at our house and setting fire to the mosque and the shops in the area,” he said. The rioters then moved away for a while seeking other targets, then returned to set the fire to the house and the properties as he was calling them back, he said. The houses of two of his aunts nearby were also attacked and his cousin had to carry his paralysed mother as they fled for their lives, he said. There were two deaths, injuries to dozens of people, hundreds of houses and businesses destroyed and several mosques damaged during the riots that started on February 26 and continued till March 10. Sri Lanka imposed a state of emergency and deployed troops to quell the violence. For Shihana Mohamed it was a heartbreak, listening over the phone as her family’s history of living harmoniously in the Kandy area for more than a thousand years, unravelled on March 5, she said. Mohamed told IANS that her sister-in-law fractured her leg while fleeing the fury of the mob that attacked her brother’s house, destroying it and burning his car in Kengalla, also near Kandy. Her 83-year-old bedridden uncle’s house was also attacked, she said, and his family had to carry him to safety. As she was hearing about the attacks on her phone, she said that she wept and then desperately called diplomats asking for help. While the attacks were taking place, the security personnel stationed nearby did not intervene, she said. Mohamed said that while the attackers were Sinhala extremists, there were other Sinhalas who came to the aid of Muslims at risk to themselves. The Sinhala family next to her brother’s house tried to intervene, but the mob over-ran them, while a Sinhala neighbour stopped the rioters from burning down her house, even though they managed to break the windows, she said. Her uncle was protected initially by a Sinhala, she said. In another instance of communal amity, she said a Tamil family sheltered her sister-in-law, who had broken her leg. For her family this was the second setback. During riots in 1989, which were not overtly communal but more political, her family’s properties were destroyed and they had to rebuild home and business. Sri Lanka lifts Facebook ban after hate speech assurance Sri Lanka has lifted a week-long ban on Facebook after the tech giant agreed to step up efforts to remove hate speech posted on its platform, President Maithripala Sirisena said yesterday. Sirisena said he ordered authorities to remove the block, imposed across the country during anti-Muslim riots last week that left three people dead after police said the social network was being used to fuel violence. “My secretary has discussed with officials of Facebook, who have agreed that its platform will not be used for spreading hate speech and inciting violence,” the president, who is currently touring Japan, said on Twitter. Sirisena did not elaborate on what, if any, concrete commitments Facebook had made and there was no immediate comment from the social media giant. But on Wednesday the company said it was responding to Sri Lanka’s concerns over incendiary material. A state of emergency was declared and Internet services suspended entirely in Kandy, the worst-hit central district, for several days last week as authorities sought to disrupt the riots, in which more than 200 Muslim-owned businesses and homes were destroyed. Island-wide restrictions on image and video sharing on messaging apps WhatsApp and Viber were lifted on Wednesday. Ministers had said Facebook would remain banned unless it assured Sri Lanka it would take quicker action over hate speech in future. Censorship and media oppression were used widely by strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse, who for a decade in power ordered local Internet providers to block anti-government sentiment online. His successor President Maithripala Sirisena was elected in 2015 promising an end to draconian government restrictions, but some websites critical of the government were blocked even before the ban on Facebook.

Sri Lanka has lifted a week-long ban on Facebook after the tech giant agreed to step up efforts to remove hate speech posted on its platform, President Maithripala Sirisena said on Thursday. Sirisena said he ordered authorities to remove the block, imposed across the country during anti-Muslim riots last week that left three people dead after police said the social network was being used to fuel violence. "My secretary has discussed with officials of Facebook, who have agreed that its platform will not be used for spreading hate speech and inciting violence," the president, who is currently touring Japan, said on Twitter. Sirisena did not elaborate on what, if any, concrete commitments Facebook had made and there was no immediate comment from the social media giant. But on Wednesday the company said it was responding to Sri Lanka's concerns over incendiary material. A state of emergency was declared and internet services suspended entirely in Kandy, the worst-hit central district, for several days last week as authorities sought to disrupt the riots, in which more than 200 Muslim-owned businesses and homes were destroyed. Island-wide restrictions on image and video sharing on messaging apps WhatsApp and Viber were lifted on Wednesday. Ministers had said Facebook would remain banned unless it assured Sri Lanka it would take quicker action over hate speech in future. Censorship and media oppression were used widely by strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse, who for a decade in power ordered local internet providers to block anti-government sentiment online. His successor President Maithripala Sirisena was elected in 2015 promising an end to draconian government restrictions, but some websites critical of the government were blocked even before the ban on Facebook.

Facebook said yesterday it was responding to Sri Lanka’s concerns over incendiary material shared on its platform and hoped Internet restrictions imposed during anti-Muslim riots last week would be lifted soon. The government has refused to end an island-wide blackout on Facebook until the tech giant agrees to take quicker action to remove hateful content. “We are responding to the situation in Sri Lanka and are in contact with the government and non-governmental organisations to support efforts to identify and remove such content,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “We are concerned with the way access to the internet is being restricted and depriving people of important connections and expression, and we hope that access will be restored soon.” Facebook said it was increasing staff numbers but gave no further details. It is believed to have 14,000 staff across the globe tasked with reviewing offensive content and the number is tipped to rise to 20,000 by the end of this year. Censorship and media oppression was used widely by strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse, who for a decade in power ordered local internet providers to block anti-government sentiment online. His successor President Maithripala Sirisena was elected in 2015 promising an end to draconian government restrictions, but some websites critical of the government were blocked even before the ban on Facebook.

Facebook said Wednesday it was responding to Sri Lanka's concerns over incendiary material shared on its platform and hoped internet restrictions imposed during anti-Muslim riots last week would be lifted soon. The government has refused to end an island-wide blackout on Facebook until the tech giant agrees to take quicker action to remove hateful content. Sri Lanka blocked the social network after police warned online hate speech was fuelling violence as mosques and Muslim businesses were burned in a week of unrest, mainly in central Sri Lanka, that left at least three people dead. "We are responding to the situation in Sri Lanka and are in contact with the government and non-governmental organisations to support efforts to identify and remove such content," a Facebook spokesperson told AFP. "We are concerned with the way access to the internet is being restricted and depriving people of important connections and expression, and we hope that access will be restored soon." A state of emergency was declared and internet services suspended entirely in Kandy, the worst-hit central district, for several days last week as authorities sought to disrupt the riots. Telecommunications Minister Harin Fernando said Tuesday Facebook had told the government it lacked sufficient "resources" to effectively review content in Sinhala, the language of Sri Lanka's majority ethnic group behind the violence. Facebook said it was increasing staff numbers but gave no further details. It is believed to have 14,000 staff across the globe tasked with reviewing offensive content and the number is tipped to rise to 20,000 by the end of this year. Censorship and media oppression was used widely by strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse, who for a decade in power ordered local internet providers to block anti-government sentiment online. His successor President Maithripala Sirisena was elected in 2015 promising an end to draconian government restrictions, but some websites critical of the government were blocked even before the ban on Facebook.

* Facebook officials to visit, minister says * Unrest stirred by social media posts, govt says * Buddhist-Muslim tension grew in past year * Authorities to monitor networks Sri Lanka is likely to lift a ban on social media networks this week, a government minister said, almost a week after blocking access to prevent the spread of communal violence. At least two people were killed in clashes in early March when Sinhalese Buddhists, angered by a killing of a driver, attacked mosques and Muslim-owned properties in the central Kandy district, a popular tourist destination. Some of the violence was instigated by postings on Facebook threatening more attacks on Muslims, according to the government, which on March 7 cut access to Facebook, Viber and WhatsApp. It initially said the ban would last for three days, but users say the services have remained blocked, indicating that in practice the ban has been extended. Harin Fernando, the telecommunication minister, told reporters that senior Facebook company officials were expected to visit Sri Lanka on Thursday and the government was likely to lift the ban on both Facebook and Whatsapp access. "Once we discuss with the Facebook officials on Thursday, the ban is likely to be lifted on Friday," he said, adding Facebook had been 'slow' to address the government's concerns. The government said in a separate statement it would also lift the ban on Viber. Communal tensions have grown over the past year with some hardline Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam and vandalising Buddhist archaeological sites. Muslim groups deny these allegations. Fernando said authorities would closely monitor the networks for any hate speech that could damage ethnic harmony. He said without elaborating that two state-run institutions would be directly working with the Facebook company on the monitoring. He added that the government could not control hate speech and fake messages on Facebook by both "extreme" Buddhists and Muslims and it had become a major menace to national security. 'Hate speech' "We have seen the destruction due to Facebook messages. We have requested Facebook to help us to stop hate speech and the problems those messages have created," he said. In a statement to Reuters, Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, said it had clear rules against hate speech and incitement to violence. It was responding to the situation in Sri Lanka and was in contact with the government and non-government bodies to support efforts to identify and remove such content, it added. "We are concerned with the way access to the internet is being restricted and depriving people of important connections and expression, and we hope that access will be restored soon," it said. US ambassador Atul Keshap said on his Twitter feed that the longer Sri Lanka's social media ban persisted, the greater the damage to tourism, the information technology sector, business, and its reputation for freedom and openness. "So many Sri Lankans also rely on social media to connect with loved ones overseas," he said. Police are investigating whether 10 suspected ringleaders of the wave of attacks on Muslims had outside funding or foreign help. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara told Reuters on Tuesday that the police's terrorism investigation unit had found more than 10,000 leaflets aiming to instigate communal clashes from one of the suspect's office in Kandy. He also said 280 people have been arrested so far and the police have been able to find seven petrol bombs from the information supplied by some of those among the 10 arrested ringleaders. A police curfew in Kandy was lifted on Saturday, but since then two isolated attacks on Muslim-owned properties have been reported from the country's South and North Western district. Some Buddhist nationalists have protested against the presence in Sri Lanka of Rohingya asylum-seekers from Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has also been on the rise. 

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Sri Lankan First Lady Jayanthi Sirisena pose with Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko upon their arrival at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan, in this handout picture taken yesterday and provided by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan.

More than 230 people have been arrested over the communal clashes in Sri Lanka’s Kandy district, including those who were caught for spreading hate speech on social media platforms, police said yesterday. A police official told Xinhua news agency that while the situation in Kandy had returned to normal, tight security would remain for a few more days across the district to maintain law and order. He said further arrests were expected over the next few days and a special desk had been set up at the police headquarters for the public to lodge complaints about violent incidents. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visited Kandy over the weekend to meet the victims affected by the violence and assessed the extent of damages.  He promised the government would pay full compensation for those whose businesses, homes, mosques and temples had been destroyed in the clash. The prime minister also said the clashes had created new challenges for the government at the local and international levels and it was a blow to the country’s tourism and economy. “We have been expecting a boom in the tourism industry but in the wake of disturbances in Kandy we don’t know whether we can achieve it as expected.” Wickremesinghe was informed that nearly 465 houses, business establishments and vehicles were destroyed and damaged in the violence. Many mosques and temples were also destroyed. Wickremesinghe said “an organised group was behind the communal clashes in Kandy” and the police had already received vital information about it. Over the weekend, President Maithripala Sirisena appointed a three-member committee to investigate the violence. Meanwhile, all government-run schools which had remained closed in the Kandy district since the clashes erupted on March 4 reopened. Three people were killed and several others injured in the communal clashes. President Sirisena declared a week-long state of emergency last week to prevent violations from spreading to other areas, the first of its kind after the country ended a 30-year civil war in 2009. The latest clash was triggered after a 41-year-old Buddhist succumbed to his injuries after being attacked by a group of Muslim men on February 22.

Vandals attacked a Muslim-owned restaurant in Sri Lanka yesterday in an alleged “hate crime”, police said, as tensions remain high across the island following a week of violent riots. The restaurant in Anamaduwa, 130km (81 miles) north of the capital Colombo, was targeted despite police being on high alert after a spate of anti-Muslim attacks. The government declared a state of emergency last week as 11 mosques were torched and 200 Muslim-owned businesses destroyed in riots by Sinhalese mobs that left at least three people dead and around 20 wounded. A curfew was lifted in the central district of Kandy, the epicentre of the violence, but soldiers remained on the streets, equipped with emergency powers to detain people to maintain law and order. Some social media networks including Facebook remain blocked across Sri Lanka. Officials say this was done to prevent the spread of hate speech against Muslims. A senior police official said disciplinary action would be taken against officers in the Anamaduwa area for failing to prevent the restaurant attack. “We are treating this as a hate crime. An investigation is on to identify those responsible,” he said on condition of anonymity. President Maithripala Sirisena announced on Saturday that he will appoint a three-member panel of retired judges to investigate the unrest that drew concern from rights groups and the international community. Police said nearly 150 people were arrested over the violence, including the suspected leader Amith Weerasinghe, a Sinhalese man known for anti-Muslim activism and outspoken social media posts.

Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, right,  meeting with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in New Delhi yesterday.

Vandals attacked a Muslim-owned restaurant in Sri Lanka on Sunday in an alleged "hate crime", police said, as tensions remain high across the island following a week of violent riots. The restaurant in Anamaduwa -- 130 kilometres north of the capital Colombo -- was targeted despite police being on high alert after a spate of anti-Muslim attacks. The government declared a state of emergency last week as 11 mosques were torched and 200 Muslim-owned businesses destroyed in riots by Sinhalese mobs that left at least three people dead and around 20 wounded. A curfew was lifted in the central district of Kandy, the epicentre of the violence, but soldiers remained on the streets, equipped with emergency powers to detain people to maintain law and order. Some social media networks including Facebook remain blocked across Sri Lanka. Officials say this was done to prevent the spread of hate speech against Muslims. A senior police official said disciplinary action would be taken against officers in the Anamaduwa area for failing to prevent the restaurant attack. "We are treating this as a hate crime. An investigation is on to identify those responsible," he told AFP on condition of anonymity. President Maithripala Sirisena announced on Saturday that he will appoint a three-member panel of retired judges to investigate the unrest that drew concern from rights groups and the international community. Police were deployed to mosques across Sri Lanka on Friday to guard worshippers from the island's minority Muslim community during weekly prayers. There were no reports of violence. Hundreds of Buddhist monks and activists staged demonstrations in Colombo on Friday, denouncing violence and urging authorities to punish those responsible. Police said nearly 150 people were arrested over the violence, including the suspected leader Amith Weerasinghe, a Sinhalese man known for anti-Muslim activism and outspoken social media posts.

An investigation into anti-Muslim riots that spread in central Sri Lanka prompting the authorities to declare a nationwide state of emergency was announced yesterday by President Maithripala Sirisena. A panel of three retired judges will probe the breakdown in law and order in the picturesque hill resort of Kandy, Sirisena’s office said in a statement. Three people died, 20 others were wounded and more than 200 Muslim-owned businesses and homes were destroyed in four days of rioting that died down on Thursday. Eleven mosques were also damaged or completely destroyed by Sinhalese mobs, according to police who say the situation has been brought under control after a heavy military deployment. A curfew in the district, which is 115km (72 miles) east of the capital Colombo, was lifted at dawn yesterday but army soldiers continued to patrol alongside police, officials said. Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority held their Friday prayers under military protection across the island amid fears of fresh attacks. However, the weekly religious activity went off without incident, authorities said. Hundreds of Buddhist monks and activists staged demonstrations in Colombo on Friday denouncing the anti-Muslim attacks and urging authorities to take strong action against the perpetrators. Police said nearly 150 people, including the main instigator, have been arrested over the unrest. They named the main suspect as Amith Weerasinghe, a man from the mainly Buddhist Sinhalese majority known for anti-Muslim activism and outspoken social media posts, and said he was taken into custody on Thursday. The government declared a state of emergency on Tuesday as the unrest escalated when a Muslim man was found dead in a burnt-out building, a day after a Sinhalese man died of injuries sustained in an attack carried out by Muslim men. Police also said they were also investigating whether suspects had outside funding or foreign help. “We are investigating who funded them, their future plans, and whether they have any local political leadership and whether there was any foreign involvement behind this,” police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara told reporters in Colombo. He said all 10 suspects had been remanded in custody for 14 days and brought to Colombo for questioning. He said three were from Kandy and the other seven from outside the district. Cabinet spokesman Dayasiri Jayasekara said police in some places had failed to carry out orders to curb the violence. Sri Lanka’s Muslims make up about 9% of its 21mn people and mostly live in the east and centre of the island. Buddhist Sinhalese account for about 70% and ethnic Tamils, most of whom are Hindus, about 13%. Some Buddhist nationalists have protested against the presence in Sri Lanka of Muslim Rohingya asylum seekers from mostly Buddhist Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has also been on the rise. However, in some areas, Sinhalese have helped Muslims to protect mosques, Muslim community leaders said. Sri Lanka was for decades plagued by war between government forces and Tamil separatists. The government defeated the rebels in 2009.

Hundreds of Buddhist monks and activists staged a demonstration in the Sri Lankan capital yesterday to condemn anti-Muslim riots that have killed three people and forced the government to declare a nationwide state of emergency. The National Bhikku Front said they organised the silent protest against what they called “communal clashes destroying national unity”. Moderate Buddhist leaders have also denounced the riots concentrated in the central city of Kandy, 115km (72 miles) east of the capital Colombo. Several Sri Lankan users also posted photos on Twitter of Buddhist monks visiting mosques during Friday prayers to express solidarity. Sinhalese and Muslim civil society groups had staged a joint protest in Colombo on Thursday calling for tough action against the perpetrators of the riots. Violence erupted on Monday after a Sinhalese man died of injuries suffered during an attack last week by four Muslim men. Tensions escalated when the body of a Muslim man was found in a burnt out building in the Kandy district on Tuesday. Sinhalese gangs set fire to mosques and Muslim-owned businesses, homes and vehicles in Kandy and elsewhere. The government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew while troop reinforcements were used to back police patrols. Police said the main instigator of the riots was arrested on Thursday along with 145 others. He was identified as Amith Weerasinghe, a Sinhalese known for anti-Muslim activism and extremist social media posts. A group of radical Buddhists monks are facing prosecution for their alleged role in anti-Muslim violence in 2014 that left four people dead.