2 SLPP MPs arrested over last week’s violence

COLOMBO: Police said on Tuesday they had arrested two MPs from the President Gotabaya Rajapaksas’ Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna in connection with last week’s violence.

More than a month of predominantly peaceful protests against the government’s handling of the economy turned deadly last week when supporters of former the former prime minister stormed an anti-government protest site in Colombo.

Days of subsequent clashes between protesters, government supporters and police left nine dead and more than 300 injured.

Mahinda Rajapaksa then resigned, leaving Gotabaya, his younger brother, to rule on as president.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, unparalleled since its independence in 1948, has come from the confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising oil prices and populist tax cuts by the Rajapaksas.