COLOMBO | Several hundred demonstrators defied the curfew and the police on Tuesday in Sri Lanka, in the grip of a historic economic crisis, the day after the deadliest clashes in weeks which precipitated the resignation of the Prime Minister.
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The UN has denounced the escalation of violence on this island of 22 million inhabitants, and called on the authorities to prevent further violence and to start a dialogue with the population, exasperated by months of severe food shortages , fuel and medicine.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a statement on Tuesday that she was “deeply troubled” after supporters of the prime minister “attacked peaceful protesters in Colombo on May 9, as well as than by “the mob attacks on members of the ruling party that followed”.
Anti-government groups on Tuesday blocked traffic on the main road leading to the capital Colombo’s airport to ensure that members and supporters of the Rajapaksa did not attempt to leave the island, witnesses said.
“People are angry after the attacks on us yesterday. And despite the curfew, we have a lot of volunteers who come to bring us food and water,” one of the protesters, Chamal Polwattage, told AFP, adding: “We will not leave until the president will not go away”.
The national police number two was assaulted and his vehicle set on fire by mobs near the prime minister’s official residence in Colombo, authorities said.
Deputy Inspector General Deshabandu Tennakoon, who is also the Colombo police chief, was briefly hospitalized before he could return home, a senior police official told AFP, adding that officers fired shots. shouts in the air to disperse the crowd.
On Monday, the clashes left five dead and more than 225 injured, the deadliest day since April 19, when the repression of an anti-government demonstration left one dead and more than 24 injured in the center of the country.
Sri Lankan protesters and religious leaders blamed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who announced his resignation during the day, for inciting family clan supporters to provoke the violence.
“Arrest those responsible for instigating violence, regardless of their political position,” ordered his troops Chandana Wickramaratne, the police chief. The latter, like the local human rights commission, announced the opening of an investigation into the subject.
“Bad pass”
The country has been rocked for several weeks by daily protests against the Rajapaksa government after months of shortages marking the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.
Authorities announced that the curfew would be lifted on Wednesday morning, while offices, shops and schools had to remain closed on Tuesday.
The military exfiltrated former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa from his official residence in Colombo early on Tuesday to safety after thousands of protesters broke through one of the gates and attempted to storm the main building of two floors where the brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had taken refuge with his family.
“My father is safe, he is in a safe place and he communicates with the family,” his eldest son, Namal Rajapaksa, 35, a lawyer by training, told AFP.
He added that his father would remain an MP and intended to play an active role in choosing his successor.
“Many rumors say that we are going to leave. We will not leave the country”, he insisted, qualifying the national anger expressed against his family as “bad luck”.
On Monday, in Nittambuwa, about fifty kilometers north of the capital, a ruling party MP, Amarakeerthi Athukorala, committed suicide after opening fire on two anti-government protesters who blocked his car.
One of the two victims, aged 27, has since succumbed to his injuries, and the MP’s bodyguard has been found dead.
Two other people were killed during the day in the city of Weeraketiya (south), by a member of the ruling party who fired on the demonstrators.
Attempts at talks
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is still in office, enjoying sweeping powers and command of the security forces. Even with a coalition government, he will be able to appoint and dismiss ministers and judges, and enjoy immunity.
Opposition parties said on Tuesday they had called off coalition talks with the government after violence erupted.
But according to political sources, attempts were underway to arrange an online meeting between the president and all political parties.
The main opposition party, the SJB, said it was studying its options.
For Akhil Bery of the Asia Society Policy Institute, it is difficult to anticipate President Rajapaksa’s conduct in the face of the challenge.
But no matter what, the next government will have to make “unpopular decisions” to fix the crumbling economy, he added.
Any bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), currently under negotiation, would mean “raised taxes and lower government spending, which is a politically toxic combination.”