Victims of violent attacks in Sri Lanka share their stories

A Sri Lankan Muslim boy peeps through a broken window of a vandalised Mosque in Diana, Kandy 9 March. File photo/AP

• Violent attacks against Muslims have been on the rise since 2012; hardline Sinhalese Buddhist groups are widely believed to be responsible and social media has also played a role

www.trtworld.com: Violence against Muslims in Sri Lanka have grown over the past year. 

Hardline Sinhalese Buddhist groups, most crowded community in the country, are widely believed to be responsible for the violence.

Hardline groups are communicating via social media to organise attacks against Muslims.

Amid violent assaults by mobs, nearly 80 people were injured, and more than 270 homes and a number of businesses were destroyed in Kandy.

In the fourth report of our series on Sri Lanka, TRT World’s Shamim Chowdhury visited a town that was attacked.

The Government declared a state of Emergency and blocked social media platforms for a week to control the unrest.

The role of Police and some local Buddhist politicians suggests the Sri Lankan government lost control of elements of its security forces, and that the violence was more than a spontaneous outbreak fueled by fringe Buddhist extremists and hate-speech spread on social media.

The Sri Lankan Government has paid for all the damaged homes to be repaired. But the money to rebuild the 60 or shops that were looted and destroyed has come from private donations. Some of them are still under reconstruction”