Sri Lanka declares Emergency

Sri Lanka on Tuesday declared a state of emergency for 10 days as communal violence between Sinhala and Muslims lead to widespread tension in the country’s Kandy district. The riots led to the death of two people and also several homes and mosques were reported to be damaged. The emergency has been imposed with an intention of stopping the riots from spreading to the other parts of the country. The emergency will be the Island nation’s first one since 2011.

As per reports, Muslims claimed that around 10 mosques, 75 shops and 32 houses belonging to the minority community were severely damaged by the Sinhalese Buddhists. The police were forced to use tear gas shells and also impose an overnight curfew to make sure the riots between the communities did not intensify further.

It has been learned that the violence was sparked off by the death of a Sinhalese man after a few Muslims attacked him in a private dispute. Police said that the man was admitted to hospital on February 22nd but succumbed to injuries on March 3rd, following which the assaulters were taken into custody.