Daily Mirror E-Paper

Three incidents of clashes in fuel queues in last 24 hrs, several injured

BY HIRAN PRIYANKARA, RANJITH RAJAPAKSA AND PRASAD RUKMAL

Three incidents of clashes between persons who became enraged while waiting in lengthy lines for fuel have been reported in several areas in the country. A tense situation prevailed in Puttalam town on Sunday midnight (22) owing to a fight between two groups of people waiting in queues outside the cooperative filling station and the Sirambhiadiya filling station in Puttalam.

Several people have been hurt in the incident, one of them critically. The man was brought to the Puttalam base hospital after being attacked with a sharp weapon, resulting in severe injuries.

The unruly crowd obstructed the Puttalam-anuradhapura main road in front of the Sirambhiadiya filling station for more than three hours, bringing traffic to a halt until the police brought in the army and the STF to bring the situation under control.

Meanwhile, a trishaw driver waiting in line for gas on Sunday night (22) was reportedly beaten brutally by the owner and workers of a filling station in Nawalapitiya town after he protested over the issue of fuel out of the queue to the owner’s favourites.

Employees of the filling station allegedly dragged the victim, who was semi-conscious on the ground, down the road and out of the Nawalapitiya train station. However, others waiting in line phoned the 1990 ambulance service, which transported him to the Nawalapitiya hospital and then to the Kandy Teaching Hospital in critical condition.

According to those waiting in line, the trishaw driver was attacked in the presence of the army and police, who turned a blind eye to the incident.

In a similar incident in Badulla, the driver of a private bus was reportedly beaten with a sharp weapon by the conductor of another vehicle in the early hours of yesterday for bypassing the place in the line. The police took the wounded motorist, who was also in critical condition to the Badulla General Hospital.

In connection with the incident, police detained six individuals, including the conductor of a Colombo-badulla bus.

NEWS

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2022-05-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

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