Sri Lanka temporarily blocks social media after worst anti-Muslim unrest since Easter bombings
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YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Sri Lankan authorities have temporarily blocked some social networks, including Facebook and WhatsApp, following the fatal attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses during Easter celebrations, Reuters reports.
The island nation has ramped up security as fears grow that minority Muslims among its population of 22 million could face sectarian violence after Islamist bombers blew themselves up in four hotels and three churches, killing more than 250 people.
Several dozen people threw stones at mosques and Muslim-owned stores and a man was beaten in the Christian-majority town of Chilaw on the west coast on Sunday in a dispute that started on Facebook, police sources and residents told Reuters.
Authorities said they arrested the author of a Facebook post, identified as 38-year-old Abdul Hameed Mohamed Hasmar, whose online comment “1 day u will cry” people said was interpreted as threatening violence.