Sri Lankan troops ordered to shoot on sight as protests flare

UN condemns violence after nearly 200 people were wounded and eight died

Violence raged across Sri Lanka late into the night on Monday, with five people dead and some 180 injured. AFP

Sri Lanka's pro-government supporters vandalise camps of anti government protestors outside the president's office in Colombo. AP Photo

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa quit on May 9 after a day of violence saw four people, including an MP, killed. AFP

Government supporters armed with sticks and clubs attack protestors. AFP

Demonstrators scuffle with police outside the president's office in Colombo. AFP

Demonstrators and government supporters clash. AFP

Police personnel stand guard outside the president's office. AFP

Destroyed vehicles litter the street after anti-government protesters rioted in Colombo. AFP

Pro-government supporters hold Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's portrait while protesting. AFP

A bus burns close to Sri Lanka's outgoing Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's official residence in Colombo. AFP

Anti-government protesters destroy a bus in Colombo. AFP

Army personnel stand guard outside the president's office in Colombo. AFP

Supporters of the Sri Lankan government attempt to block a police water canon truck. AFP

People gather near a burning bus in Colombo. AFP

Anti-government demonstrators set fire to the house owned by Cabinet Minister Sanath Nishantha. Reuters

Sri Lankans push a bus, transporting government supporters who attacked anti-government protesters, into a lake in Colombo. AP Photo

A policeman fires tear gas during a clash. AFP

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned on Monday over the country’s dire economic state and violence at mass protests outside his home in Colombo, his spokesman Rohan Weliwita said. AP

Demonstrators and government supporters clash outside the official residence of Mahinda Rajapaksa, 76, who offered his resignation to his younger brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. AFP

A man suffers after being sprayed with tear gas as cars burn on the streets of Colombo, Sri Lanka. AP

Paramilitary police arrive as demonstrators and government supporters clash. AFP

Sri Lankan government supporters cheer outside the prime minister's residence in Colombo. AP

Supporters of the ruling party run as riot police fire tear gas during clashes in Colombo, amid the country's economic crisis. Reuters

A policeman stands guard in riot gear. AP

Water cannon are fired during a confrontation with anti-government demonstrators. Reuters

Supporters of Sri Lanka's ruling party run in Colombo as police fire tear gas during a clash with anti-government demonstrators. Reuters

A Sri Lankan Catholic priest, centre in a white robe, is among anti-government protesters being attacked by supporters of the ruling party outside the prime minister's residence. AP

Tears after anti-government protesters were attacked by supporters of the ruling party in Colombo. AP

Violence flares between demonstrators and government supporters outside the president's office in Colombo. AFP

Activists stage a mock ritual to 'exorcise demons' outside the official residence of Sri Lanka's prime minister. AFP

Sri Lanka's defence ministry on Tuesday ordered troops to shoot on sight people involved in looting or damaging property, a day after mobs targeted the homes of ruling-party politicians.

"Security forces have been ordered to shoot on sight anyone looting public property or causing harm to life," the ministry said.

The country began a curfew on Tuesday after eight people were killed and nearly 200 wounded during the protests over the country's crippling economic crisis.

Police said on Tuesday eight people, including two policemen, were killed and 65 homes damaged during an orgy of violence overnight. Forty-one of the homes were burned.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned on Monday to clear the way for a “new unity government”, his spokesman Rohan Weliwita said.

Mr Rajapaksa had to be rescued in a pre-dawn operation by the military on Tuesday after thousands of anti-government protesters stormed his official residence in Colombo overnight, AFP reported.

Police fired tear gas and warning shots to control the crowd.

"After a pre-dawn operation, the former PM and his family were evacuated to safety by the army," a top security official told AFP. "At least 10 petrol bombs were thrown into the compound."

His son Namal, himself once touted as a future national leader, said the Rajapaksa family had no plans to leave Sri Lanka.

"There are a lot of rumours that we are going to leave. We will not leave the country," he said, describing the surge of national anger against his family as a "bad patch".

He added that his father Mahinda would not step down as a lawmaker and wanted to play an active role in choosing his successor.

The Rajapaksa clan's hold on power has been shaken by months of blackouts and shortages in Sri Lanka, the worst economic crisis since it became independent in 1948.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa remains in office, however, with widespread powers and command over the security forces.

After weeks of peaceful anti-government demonstrations, violence broke out on Monday when Mahinda Rajapaksa's supporters — many of whom had made the journey into the capital from the countryside — attacked protestors with sticks and clubs.

Demonstrators and government supporters clash outside the official residence of Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo on May 9. AFP

"We were hit, the media were hit, women and children were hit," one witness told AFP, asking not to be named.

Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds and declared an immediate curfew in Colombo, a measure later widened to include the entire South Asian nation of 22 million people.

Authorities said the curfew will be lifted on Wednesday morning, with government and private offices, as well as shops and schools, ordered to remain shut on Tuesday.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet condemned the escalating violence and urged the authorities to prevent further unrest.

She urged restraint and meaningful dialogue to address the grievances of the population, after deadly clashes in the worst violence in weeks of protests.

"I am deeply troubled by the escalation of violence in Sri Lanka after supporters of the prime minister attacked peaceful protesters in Colombo yesterday May 9 and the subsequent mob violence against members of the ruling party," Ms Bachelet said in a statement.

"I condemn all violence and call on the authorities to independently, thoroughly and transparently investigate all attacks that have occurred. It is crucial to ensure that those found responsible, including those inciting or organising violence, are held to account."

US ambassador Julie Chung tweeted that Washington condemned "the violence against peaceful protestors" and called on the Sri Lankan "government to conduct a full investigation, including the arrest & prosecution of anyone who incited violence".

Despite the curfew, anti-government protesters defied police to retaliate against government supporters late into Monday night.

Outside Colombo, ruling party lawmaker Amarakeerthi Athukorala shot two people — killing a 27-year-old man — after being surrounded by a mob of anti-government protestors, police said.

"He then took his own life with his revolver," a police official told AFP by telephone.

Mr Athukorala's bodyguard was also found dead at the scene, police said.

Another ruling party politician who was not named opened fire on protesters, killing two and wounding five in the deep south of the island, police said.

Angry crowds set alight the homes of more than a dozen pro-Rajapaksa politicians, along with some vehicles, while buses and trucks used by government loyalists in and around Colombo were also targeted.

Dozens of buses used by Rajapaksa loyalists to travel to Colombo earlier in the day were torched or damaged. AFP

Several Rajapaksa homes were torched in different parts of the country, while a family museum was also damaged.

Doctors at the main Colombo National Hospital intervened to rescue wounded government supporters, with soldiers breaking open locked gates to ferry in the wounded.

"They may be murderers, but for us they are patients who must be treated first," a doctor shouted at a mob blocking the entrance to the emergency unit.