Arindam Bagchi, official spokesman for India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that this year alone his government has sent over 3.5 billion dollars to Sri Lanka to tackle the serious economic crisis that is affecting that country’s population.

Moreover, the Indian people provided aid to alleviate the shortage of basic products such as food and medicines, the diplomat said on Twitter.

The violence that broke out on Monday in Sri Lanka due to clashes between government supporters and opponents has killed 7 people and injured 230 and caused extensive material damage.

To curb the riots, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa extended the national curfew decreed on Monday until Wednesday and gave the army and the police exceptional powers to arrest anybody who breaches this measure or uses violence.

However, on Tuesday a group of demonstrators injured Senior Deputy Inspector-General Deshabandu Tennakoon, the highest ranking officer in Colombo, after burning down a vehicle in which the victim was traveling near the official residence of former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

There are also reports on the growing tension in front of the Trincomalee Naval Base, where the prime minister and several members of his family presumably sought refuge following his resignation on Monday amid the convulsive political and economic situation.

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