NETWORK DOWN

Sri Lanka Blocks Social Media to Fight Anti-Muslim Backlash After Easter Bombings

Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube blocked in the hope of breaking up an eruption of attacks.

Sri Lanka has blocked Facebook and WhatsApp after an eruption of retaliatory attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses in the wake of the Easter bombings by Islamist militants. Snapchat, Instagram, Viber, IMO, and YouTube were also blocked by the government in an attempt to disrupt the anti-Muslim violence that has broken out. Stones have been thrown at mosques and Muslim-owned stores, Reuters reports, and a man was beaten following a dispute that started on Facebook. The attacks have worsened due to a lack of police action, according to eyewitnesses. “The attack continued for nearly two hours and they attacked one house also in the village. There were hundreds of attackers,” a resident of the Muslim-majority town of Kiniyama told Reuters. More than 250 people were killed on Easter Sunday when three churches and three luxury hotels were were targeted in a series of terrorist suicide bombings.