COLOMBO, Sri Lanka
Angry mobs in Sri Lanka have burned down several homes belonging to the ruling Rajapaksas and MPs, after they were attacked by government supporters.
The violence capped a day of
unrest that saw Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa quit amid mass protests at his government's
handling of the economic crisis.
But it failed to assuage
demonstrators, who attempted to storm his official residence while he was holed
up inside.
Five people have died and more
than 190 have been injured since Monday.
An island-wide curfew has been
extended to Wednesday morning as authorities seek to quell the violence.
Many are still calling for
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of Mahinda, to leave office, following
weeks of escalating demonstrations over soaring prices and power cuts since last
month.
On Monday, government
supporters clashed violently with protesters in the capital Colombo outside
Mahinda Rajapaksa's Temple Trees residence, and then at the main protest site
at Galle Face Green.
Police and riot squads were
deployed, and tear gas and water cannons were fired at government supporters
after they breached police lines and attacked protesters using sticks and
poles.
Angry demonstrators
retaliated, attacking government supporters and targeting ruling party MPs,
including one who shot two people after a mob swarmed his car and then killed
himself, according to Sri Lankan police.
As the night deepened, mobs of
protesters across the country torched houses belonging to the Rajapaksas,
various ministers and MPs. This included a house turned into a controversial
museum by the Rajapaksas in the family's ancestral village in Hambantota in
southern Sri Lanka.
Footage posted on social media
showed homes enveloped in flames as people cheered.
Areas near the President's
official residence were also set ablaze, according to reports.
Following Mahinda
Rajapaksa's resignation, protesters attempted to breach the inner
compound of Temple Trees where he was staying along with several loyalists, and
set fire to a bus outside the home. Police fired shots in the air and tear gas
in an attempt to disperse them.
Elsewhere in Colombo, tensions
remained high. Men armed with sticks and rods had established road blocks on
the routes leading to and from the airport, and police and security forces -
usually a common sight in the area - were nowhere to be seen, reports the BBC's
Anbarasan Ethirajan.
Sri Lanka is facing its worst
economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948, and people are
furious because the cost of living has become unaffordable.
The country's foreign currency
reserves have virtually run dry, and people can no longer afford essential
items including food, medicines and fuel.
The government has requested
emergency financial help. It blames the Covid pandemic, which all but killed
off Sri Lanka's tourist trade - one of its biggest foreign currency earners.
But many experts say economic mismanagement is also to blame. - BBC
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