Defying a nationwide curfew in Sri Lanka, several hundred protesters continued to chant slogans against the government on Tuesday, a day after violent clashes that killed five people, injured more than 200 and prompted Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to resign.
Protesters swarmed the entrance to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office in the capital, Colombo, for the 32nd day to demand that he follow in his brother's footsteps and quit. Thousands of protesters have crowded the area outside Rajapaksa's office for weeks, but the number dropped to hundreds on Tuesday due to a 36-hour curfew imposed after the clashes a day earlier.
As the Indian Ocean nation battles its worst economic crisis in history, thousands of protesters defied a curfew to attack government figures, setting ablaze homes, shops and businesses belonging to ruling party lawmakers and provincial politicians.
The attacks on government figures came in apparent reprisal for an incident just hours before Rajapaksa's resignation.
Police had fired water cannons and tear gas to disperse skirmishers after the prime minister's supporters, many armed with iron bars, stormed a camp of those protesting against the government, beating them and setting fire to their tents.
For more than a month, protests have spread across the country, drawing people across ethnicities, religions and class. For the first time, middle-class Sri Lankans also took to the streets in large numbers, marking a dramatic revolt by many former Rajapaksa supporters, some of whom have spent weeks protesting outside the president's office.
The prime minister's resignation comes as the country's economy has swiftly unraveled in recent weeks. Imports of everything from milk to fuel have plunged, spawning dire food shortages and rolling power cuts. People have been forced to stand in lines for hours to buy essentials.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa initially blamed Sri Lanka's economic woes on global factors like the pandemic battering its tourism industry and the Russia-Ukraine conflict pushing up global oil prices. But both he and his brother have since admitted to mistakes that exacerbated the crisis, including conceding they should have sought an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout sooner.
Sri Lanka was in financial trouble even before the Ukraine war drove up food and oil prices. The Sri Lankan government has been running big budget deficits after cutting taxes in 2019 and struggling to collect taxes during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also has piled up massive foreign debt – much of it owed to China – and has scant foreign exchange reserves to pay for imports and to defend its embattled currency, the rupee.
Monday's violence triggered widespread anger, with people singling out Rajapaksa supporters and attacking them in many parts of the country.
Ruling party lawmaker Amarakeerthi Athukorale and his bodyguard were killed in Nittambuwa, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Colombo after the car they were traveling in was intercepted by an angry crowd, the police spokesperson said.
Athukorale or his bodyguard had fired gunshots at the protesters, who chased them and trapped them inside a building where their badly beaten bodies were recovered by police several hours later, the spokesperson said.
Three people were hospitalized with gunshot wounds from the shots fired from the deputy's vehicle, he said.
Separately, in the Rajapaksas' hometown of Weeraketiya, a crowd that tried to set fire to a local politician's home was fired upon, killing two protesters, he said.
