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Curfew was lifted Saturday at 0600 hours after the authorities said the situation in Colombo's Mardana, which witnessed riots on Friday, returned to normal.
No untoward incident was reported during the 12-hour night curfew from any part of Colombo and two other districts of the western province, police said.
Night curfew was clamped Friday evening as a precaution, after protestors clashed with the police. Several vehicles were damaged and a dozen people were injured. This incident was a sequel to violence on May 1 in Mawanella, about 80 km from Colombo, in which two persons were killed and several houses were burnt.
Information and Media Minister Anura Priyadarshan Yapa said that the government succeeded in swiftly bringing the situation under control. He described the incident as an attempt by certain sections of people to turn a minor incident into a serious riotous situation.
"The government will not allow anybody to flare up the violence and will take action against those who attempt to create disturbances," he warned.
UNI
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