At least three people have been killed and more than 80 people injured in overnight mob attacks led by Sinhala Buddhist monks in two coastal Sri Lankan towns, according to medics.

Sri Lanka’s police on Monday extended a curfew across the popular resort towns of Aluthgama and Beruwala after Muslim properties and mosques came under attack, while violence also spread to Lathugana town.

Police said they fired tear gas and widened the curfew to Beruwala, a predominantly Muslim area, after initial violence broke out in Aluthgama, 60km south of the capital Colombo.

Both areas are popular beach resorts frequented by international tourists, but there were no reports of any foreigners caught up in the violence.

Hilmy Ahmed, the spokesman of Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, told Al Jazeera that the situation was calmer now, but there was large-scale destruction of property.

“At least nine shops and up to 40 houses have been gutted in Aluthgama, while three mosques were attacked,” Ahmed said over phone from southern Sri Lanka.

Escalating clashes

A police spokesman said trouble began on Sunday evening when a group led by Buddhist monks tried to march in an area with a sizeable population of Muslims.

“The curfew was extended to a neighbouring area to prevent an escalation of clashes,” the spokesman said.

Those injured in the overnight clashes have been admitted to hospitals.

Rauff Hakeem, Sri Lanka’s justice minister, urged “all relevant parties to remain calm and not to instigate further violence”.

“Please let the police do their job. The attacks last night will not be tolerated and we will prosecute any and all responsible,” he told Al Jazeera.

At one point elite police commandos were called upon to rescue a deputy minister, Faiser Mustapha, who was trapped inside a school along with dozens of Muslims who fled their homes fearing attacks from angry Buddhist mobs.

“Some Buddhists are deliberately targeting Muslims. But unfortunately police have not been able to protect the minorities,” the Muslim Council’s Ahmed earlier told Al Jazeera.

“A petty feud between two individuals has been allowed to take a religious tone. The extremist Buddhists led by Bodu Bala Sena attacked Muslims and are still in the area despite the curfew.”

President’s appeal

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, currently visiting Bolivia, said in a statement that he will not allow “anyone to take the law into their own hand”.

“An investigation will be held for [the] law to take its course of action to bring to book those responsible for incidents in Alutgama,” he said on Twitter.

“I urge all parties concerned to act with restraint.”

Residents of the riot-hit areas said Muslims were leaving their homes and seeking shelter in community centres as fears of more violence lurked.

There were no reports of arrests.

The latest unrest came just weeks after Muslim legislators asked Rajapaksa to protect their minority community from “Buddhist extremist elements” blamed for a recent spate of hate attacks.

Muslims make up about 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s 20 million population.

Nationalist Buddhist groups have in turn accused religious minorities of wielding undue political and economic influence on the island.

Videos posted on YouTube have shown mobs led by Buddhist monks throwing stones and smashing a Christian prayer centre in southern Sri Lanka in January this year and attacking mosques while police looked on.

-Punch

Posted by admin on Jun 16 2014. Filed under Africa & World Politics, Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry