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Communal violence and state force, 2013 to 2019

Recent episodes of communal violence and the use of force against protesters, as the cited reports describe them: the 2013 shooting at Rathupaswala and its 2024 acquittals, the Gintota violence of 2017, the February and March 2018 attacks in Ampara and Kandy district, and the anti-Muslim attacks after the Easter bombings in May 2019. It links to the Gnanasara and Easter attacks maps. Dashed links are accusations, arrests and inquiry findings that no court has upheld.

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PeopleIn custodyOn bailConvictedOrganisationsCases and eventsEaster attacksThe Rajapaksa familyPresidents since 2019Politicians and investigatorsGalagoda Aththe GnanasaraThe LTTE war, 1983 to 2009The Treasury bond casesThe 2022 economic crisisDisappearances and wartime killingsWar accountability at the UNCommunal violence and state force, 2013 to 2019Attacks on journalists and media, 2009 to 2026Disasters, 2004 to 2025Colombo Metro bus service, 2025 to 2026

People (4)

• Amith Weerasinghe
  • Leader of the Sinhalese nationalist group Mahason Balakaya, according to Al Jazeera
• Anura Deshapriya Gunawardena
  • Army officer, a then-Brigadier, named in the 2019 indictment in the Rathupaswala case
• Galagoda Aththe GnanasaraConvictedIn custody
  • Buddhist monk; General Secretary of Bodu Bala Sena
• Mahinda Rajapaksa
  • President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; prime minister until May 2022

Organisations (5)

• Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
  • Human rights commission
• Mahason Balakaya
  • Sinhalese nationalist group, according to Al Jazeera
• Sri Lanka Army
  • The government’s land force in the war with the LTTE
• Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)
  • Political party
• Sri Lanka Police
  • National police force

Cases and events (6)

• Anti-Muslim attacks after the Easter bombings, May 2019
• Anti-Muslim violence in Kandy district, March 2018
• Attacks on Muslim businesses in Ampara, February 2018
• Easter Sunday attacks, 21 April 2019
• Gintota violence, November 2017
• Shooting at Rathupaswala, Weliweriya, August 2013