Fresh protests are being reported from near Colombo as Sri Lanka battles an economic crisis. Protesters have resorted to throwing stones at the residence of the mayor of Moratuwa, which falls under the main administrative province of the island nation, demanding electricity.
This comes a day after a protest outside the residence of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa turned violent, leaving at least one person critically wounded. Security forces fired into the crowd and used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators, who were demanding the President's resignation.
The residents have slammed the government's handling of the country's economic crisis. Protesters set fire to an army bus parked across the lane leading to Rajapaksa's home in Colombo's Mirihana residential quarter, as well as a police vehicle. Rajapaksa was not at home during the protest, news agency AFP reported.
The Lankan government has, meanwhile, termed the protest an "act of terrorism" and blamed "extremist elements" linked to opposition parties.
Sri Lanka's capital Colombo was placed under indefinite curfew in the wake of the violence.
The South Asian nation of 22 million people is in the grips of its worst downturn since independence, sparked by an acute lack of foreign currency to pay for even the most essential imports.
