Sri Lanka's police Tuesday stepped in to prevent a local council from banning Muslim traders from a weekly fair in another backlash from the devastating Easter attacks blamed on Islamic extremists. The local government body had ordered minority Muslims not to participate in the farmer's market in the town of Dankotuwa, 47 kilometres (30 miles) north of the capital.
"We got a court order against the Wennappuwa Pradeshiya Saba (council) because we can't allow this Islamophobia," local police Superintendent K. A. B. Kumarapeli told AFP by telephone.
He said the local council chairman representing a political party affiliated to former president Mahinda Rajapakse ordered Muslims to stay away, saying their presence could trigger violence in the region.