Sri Lanka warns of arrests of several instigators of violence

Since the night of November 17, Sri Lanka has deployed troops on the streets and imposed a nighttime curfew in Gintota town, Galle province, about 115 km south of the capital Colombo, to end violent clashes between the two ethnic communities.

Sri Lankan Army. (Source: therepublicsquare.com)

In a latest announcement on November 18, Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayaka said the situation in Gintota is now under control. The same morning, the government eased the curfew with a warning to arrest some instigators of violence.

Over the past two days, clashes have broken out in the town of Gintota, leading to street violence between two ethnic groups: the majority Buddhist Sinhalese and the minority Muslim community. Six people have been hospitalized. Police have arrested 19 people. The cause of the clashes is not yet clear.

Muslims make up about 10 percent of Sri Lanka's 21 million people and are the second-largest minority after Tamils. Sinhalese make up 70 percent of the population. Sri Lankan authorities have been trying to avoid a repeat of the violence in June 2014, when four people were killed and scores injured in clashes between two ethnic groups in a locality./.

According to Vietnamplus