Street fights erupt in Puttalam as rival groups clash

By Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe

At least four persons, including a woman, were injured as two rival groups from IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps in Nagawilluwa, Palaviya and Karikachchiya clashed in street fights in Puttalam on Friday evening. The rival parties attacked each other with stones and sticks, and also caused damage to property in the course of the melee.

Members of rival Muslim groups join the fray

The politically motivated clash was sparked by an IDP group that raised a protest when Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauf Hakeem was visiting the area. According to reports, supporters of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Minister Rishad Badurdeen were demonstrating against the SLMC leader, when supporters of SLMC deputy leader Noordeen Masoor allegedly arrived on unregistered motorcycles and assaulted Mr. Badurdeen with wooden poles.

According to witnesses, the police were slow to respond to calls for help from villagers who had dialled the 119 police hotline; half an hour into the clash and the police had still not arrived on the scene.

Minister Badurdeen was reported to have arrived at the scene when the situation appeared to have been brought under control. While he was talking to his supporters, one of Mr. Noordeen’s supporters happened to pass by in a three-wheeler.

Angry bystanders stopped the three-wheeler, smashed it with wooden poles and set it on fire. The three-wheeler passenger escaped unharmed.

Meanwhile, SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem, who was scheduled to arrive in Nagawilluwa on official business about the same time, was forced to stop in Madurankuliya and wait until the violence had subsided. Later in the evening, Mr. Hakeem attended a ceremony organised by SLMC’s Mr. Masoor to declare open a library at Nagavilluwa, where he addressed a gathering of some 2,000 Muslims.

A three-wheeler is destroyed as a street protest develops into a pitched battle in Puttalam

Mr. Hakeem was due to attend another function in Puttalam later in the day but was held up by yet another incident, in which tyres were set on fire, allegedly by supporters of dissident SLMC member and deputy minister K. E. Bais.

Once normalcy was restored, the SLMC leader arrived in Puttalam at 8.30pm and addressed a large rally.

Witnesses say the incidents of violence have caused division in the Muslim community, and accuse the MPs of using the IDP population for their political ends.

There were even reports of Muslim women joining the fray, armed with wooden poles.

Addressing a large gathering in Puttalam later on Friday, Mr. Hakeem said the SLMC and other parties would get together with the main opposition United National Party (UNP) to form a new government in the near future.

Mr. Hakeem accused the two Muslim ministers of employing thugs to stop him from visiting Nagawillua and Puttalam earlier in the day. He said that despite attempts to disrupt his programme, he was able to attend meetings and draw large crowds.