Rights group demands probe into Sri Lanka police shooting

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI
Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A leading human rights group is demanding that Sri Lankan authorities conduct a prompt and impartial probe into a police shooting. One person died and 13 others were injured in the shooting during protests over fuel price hike amid the country’s worst economic crisis in decades. The New York-based Human Rights Watch urged authorities to probe the “apparent use of excessive force by police” in the incident. Calls for investigations came as Parliament on Thursday observed a minute’s silence in memory of the more than 260 people killed in the 2019 Islamic State-inspired suicide bomb attacks on churches and tourist hotels. Tuesday’s shooting was the first by security forces during weeks of protests. It reignited widespread demonstrations across the Indian Ocean island nation.