COLOMBO: Sri Lankan police on Saturday arrested 19 people after violent clashes erupted in Galle District between the majority Buddhist and minority Muslim communities.
A police curfew had been imposed in six areas across the district in order to control the situation.
A police official told Xinhua news agency that the situation had not returned to normal and tight security would remain across the district throughout the day.
Over 200 police officers and 100 officers from the Special Task Force were deployed in Galle following the clashed a between Buddhist and Muslim groups on Friday night which erupted over a minor incident related to the majority Sinhalese community.
Several people were injured in the clashes while some houses and business establishments of minority Muslim community had also been damaged.
Earlier in September, dozens of protesters from the country’s majority Buddhist community led a mob that barged into a UN-run safe house for Rohingya Muslims and attacked them, claiming that they were terrorists and should be sent back to Myanmar.
Sinhalese Buddhists make up about 75 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 20 million, compared with about 9 % for Muslims.
With IANS inputs
Violence against Muslims: 19 arrested in Sri Lanka after communal clashes
