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Sri Lanka Economic Crisis News Live Updates: Sri Lanka PM quits as violence kills 3, injures 150; Ruling party MP, PSO killed in clash
Sri Lanka News Live: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa quit on Monday after a day of violence saw three people including an MP killed and over 150 wounded as government supporters armed with sticks and clubs attacked protestors.
Lawmaker Amarakeerthi Athukorala from the ruling party shot two people -- killing a 27-year-old man -- and then himself after being surrounded by a mob of anti-government protestors outside the city, police said.
Sri Lanka has suffered months of blackouts and dire shortages of food, fuel and medicines in its worst economic crisis since independence, sparking weeks of overwhelmingly peaceful anti-government demonstrations.
On Monday scores of Rajapaksa loyalists attacked unarmed protesters camping outside the president's office at the sea-front Galle Face promenade in downtown Colombo since April 9, AFP reporters said.
The violence began after several thousand supporters of the prime minister, brought in buses from rural areas, poured out of his nearby official residence.
Rajapaksa had addressed some 3,000 supporters at his house and pledged he would "protect the interests of the nation."
The supporters then initially pulled down tents of protesters in front of the prime minister's Temple Trees residence and torched anti-government banners and placards.
