Colombo: The Sri Lankan police on Thursday questioned three more members of the ruling SLPP parliamentary group over violent clashes between anti-government and pro-government protesters in the country that left at least 10 people dead and over 200 dead. more injured.
On 9 May, supporters of former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa attacked peaceful anti-government protesters in Sri Lanka, demanding the removal of the country’s worst economic crisis, leading to severe shortages of staple food, fuel and electricity. Violence broke out.
Police spokesperson Nihal Thaladuwa said a group of police CID investigators questioned three former ministers in Parliament on Thursday.
Two of his accomplices, who were arrested earlier, have been remanded till May 25.
Thaladuwa said 1,059 people have been arrested for attacks on protesters and violence against ruling lawmakers, where some 78 government lawmakers suffered arson on property.
Thaladuwa said the death toll from the violence rose to 10 with the death of a man admitted to hospital with serious head injuries on Thursday.
Politicians were accused of encouraging the protesters to attack. At least two of them, a former state minister and another MP, who were identified in the video footage as instigators of the violence, were arrested and remanded.
Government lawmakers attributed the inaction of the police to arson against their personal properties.
He accused the opposition Janata Vimukti Peramuna (JVP) of inciting violence, which was vehemently denied by the Marxist party.
The mob destroyed several tents and other structures erected in Galle Face and also attacked some protesters.
In this violence, houses of many politicians including Rajapaksa’s ancestral home in Hambantota were set on fire.
Video footage showed Mahinda Rajapaksa and his younger brother and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s entire house burning at Medamulana in Hambantota city.
Former prime minister Mahinda’s house in Kurunegala was also torched by protesters, while mobs also destroyed the DA Rajapakse Memorial – built in memory of Mahinda and Gotabaya’s father – in Medamulana, Hambantota.
(With agencies inputs)
