Anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka signal a new social fissure

THE trigger was supposedly a road-rage incident, said to have involved members of Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority, near the popular tourist destination of Kandy. A lorry driver from the country’s biggest ethnic group, the Sinhalese, ended up dead. Angry Sinhalese mobs, urged on by Buddhist monks, began attacking mosques and businesses owned by Muslims, hurling rocks, burning tyres and setting fires, leading to at least two more deaths. In response Maithripala Sirisena, the president, declared an island-wide state of emergency on March 6th.