Demanding cooking gas; Angry residents of Armour Street, Slave Island and Dematagoda block main roads

A policeman keeps watch after violence broke out in Slave Island during which 2 vehicles were damaged

• People block roads with barrels, branches of tree and large cooking pots   
• Some lay mats, sleeping on the main roads   
• Tyres burnt on the roads in Slave Island

Text and pix by Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana and Kamanthi Wickramasinghe   

Traffic through several main districts in Colombo came to a standstill since yesterday morning when scores of angry residents took to the streets blocking the main junctions in Amour Street, Grandpass, Dematagoda and Slave Island demanding immediate supply of cooking gas.   

Hundreds of residents of each area blocked the main roads including Baseline Road from Dematagoda junction, Armour Street junction near its police station and Slave Island junction bringing barrels and branches of trees to the streets and burning tyres.   

The string of events began last morning when a group of residents protesting in Armour Street decided to block the main roads for traffic. The event escalated when the mob reportedly took a Litro gas supplying lorry into their custody and looted close to about hundred cylinders.   

Although, the police had intervened and arrested two persons for stealing gas, the protests were continuing till late last night until this edition went to press.   

Large groups of residents in Slave Island blocked the area by burning tyres and pulling ropes across the roads. Children and teenagers were seen controlling traffic demanding the motorists to turn back and return through optional routes. Families in numbers were seen laying mats on the main roads and sleeping on them even at 11pm yesterday.   

Although, traffic police were present in these areas, they did not seem to intervene with the protesters or attempted to clear the barricades put up by people.   

Barricades on Baseline Road from Dematagoda junction and Armour Street had been lifted by late last night and a clash had been reported in Dematagoda between two groups, where one person was suspected to have been wounded and hospitalised.   

Meanwhile, a group of persons standing in a lengthy queue for fuel at a roadside filling station blocked the High Level Road from Nawinna by parking a bus across the road.