Protests over Muslim politicians grip Sri Lankan city

Buddhist monks take part in a protest against the mob attacks against Muslims in few villages after Easter Sunday bomb attacks by Islamist militants in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 16 May. Photo: Reuters
Buddhist monks take part in a protest against the mob attacks against Muslims in few villages after Easter Sunday bomb attacks by Islamist militants in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 16 May. Photo: Reuters

Demonstrations by several thousand people gripped Sri Lanka's pilgrim city of Kandy on Monday as Buddhist monks demanded the sacking of three top Muslim politicians over the Easter suicide bombings.

Shops and offices were closed in the city 115 kilometres (70 miles) east of Colombo as the crowd including several hundred monks rallied outside the famous Temple of the Tooth.

Inside the temple, where Buddhists believe a tooth of the Buddha is enshrined, prominent monk Athuraliye Ratana was staging what he calls a "death fast" since Saturday.

Also present was Galagodaaththe Gnanasara, a firebrand monk released from jail on a presidential pardon late last month who has long been accused of instigating hate crimes against Muslims.

Ratana is demanding the sacking of the Muslim governors of two provinces and a Muslim minister in the government of the Buddhist-majority island nation of 21 million people.

He accuses them of supporting the Islamic extremists responsible for the April 21 attacks on three churches and three hotels that killed 258 people including 45 foreigners.

The three have not commented on the accusations.

The head of the Catholic Church in Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, also travelled to Kandy on Monday to express solidarity with Ratana.

"We support the monk's campaign because so far justice has not been served," Ranjith told reporters in Kandy.

The government has said nearly 100 people linked to the local jihad group, the National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) have been arrested since the attacks.

In the wake of the bombings, anti-Muslim riots spread in towns north of the capital killing one Muslim man and leaving hundreds of homes, shops and mosques vandalised.

"There is tension in the area because of the demonstrations, but police are maintaining a high alert," a police official in Colombo told AFP.

Sri Lanka is under a state of emergency since the Easter attacks. Police and troops have been empowered to arrest and detain suspects for long periods.

Muslims make up around 10 per cent of Sri Lanka's population.

In March last year, a week of anti-Muslim riots in a suburb of Kandy left three people dead and more than 20 injured.

More than 200 Muslim-owned homes and shops were also destroyed and the government clamped a brief state of emergency in the area to contain the violence.