Anti-Muslim Unrest, Social Media Blocked

On Sunday, a dispute which started on Facebook turned into an ugly situation, which resulted in dozens of people throwing stones at Mosques and Muslim-owned shops also a man was beaten in the town of Chilaw on the west coast.

Soon after this incident, the social media network was temporarily blocked, which included Facebook, WhatsApp, messaging apps by Sri Lanka on Monday. A 38-year-old Abdul Hameed Mohamed Hasmar, who’s online comment "1 day u will cry" was on the Facebook, got arrested by the authorities, also the people who threw stones and attacked Muslim-owned shops were arrested. There was even curfew laid in the night to avoid any other causalities.

However, after the incident of arrests, people in that area demanded all men be released.

This violence came three weeks after the Sri Lankan, mass killing of 250 people in the churches and the hotels by the Islamist bombers. There were several complains of harassments after that attack too.