A second day of chaos set off inside Sri Lanka’s parliament as lawmakers hurled chairs, books and water mixed with chilli powder at the Speaker, who had to be shielded by a heavy police escort in the chambers.

Amidst fears of violence spilling into Sri Lanka’s streets and the country’s security forces intervening, international pressure must be sustained, The Guardian argues in its editorial on Thursday.

“The suspicion is that [President Maithripala Sirisena] and his chosen prime minister [Mahinda Rajapaksa] hope to give the impression that Sri Lanka is becoming ungovernable and that fresh elections are the only solution,” the newspaper states.

The Chinese government has expressed its hope that Sri Lanka can maintain stability and deal with the current political crisis.

Responding to a request for comment on the ‘political upheaval’ in Sri Lanka after the Sri Lankan president’s attempt to dissolve parliament was suspended by the Supreme Court and Mahinda Rajapaksa’s position as prime minister suffered a no confidence vote, Hua Chunying, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday:

The Sri Lankan armed forces announced that it had taken a delegation of foreign military students and their families on a tour of the North-east, where they visited different army bases and were told by the military of how the region was recaptured.

<p>Germany's ambassador to Colombo today criticised the violent scenes in parliament tweeting it was a "bad day for democracy in Sri Lanka."&nbsp;</p> <p>"SL has a long and proud democratic tradition - reading about throwing objects at the speaker and preventing votes is unbecoming of a democracy," Joern Rohde added.&nbsp;</p>

India must stand up for democracy in its own backyard as Sri Lanka’s current political turmoil points to China’s increasing role, the Financial Times said in an editorial on Thursday.

“China is again becoming a supplier of political instability” along its strategic ‘string of pearls’ in the Indian Ocean, the editorial board writes, referring to Sri Lanka's recent political crisis.

Thousands of United National Party (UNP) supporters and party members gathered in Colombo today to show their opposition to the replacement of the prime minister and the dissolution of parliament by the president, Maithripala Sirisena. 

British Labour Party MPs have written to the UK Secretary of State, Sajid Javid, urging the government to reconsider its asylum policy and stop all deportations to the island, of Tamils in particular, in view of Sri Lanka's ongoing political crisis. 

The letter follows a previous letter to the Home Secretary, Jeremy Hunt urging action such as discussions with the EU regarding the suspension of trade benefits to Sri Lanka. 

A Sri Lankan government MP has filed a complaint with the police saying he was threatened with a knife inside the parliamentary complex. 

Photographs emerged today showing the UNP MP Palitha Thewarapperuma wielding a knife during this morning's chaotic parliamentary session, which descended into violence with a UPFA MP throwing a waste bin at the Speaker and one MP being taken to hospital with injuries. 

Sri Lanka's parliament descended into a violent brawl today, with a UPFA MPs caught on film throwing a waste bin at the Speaker and a UNP MP photographed wielding a knife during the session. 

Another UPFA MP was videoed pouring water over the Speaker's chair, whilst photographs published by AFP show a former minister brandishing his middle finger to colleagues. 

A former LTTE cadre who underwent Sri Lankan government ‘rehabilitation’ at the end of the war died suddenly in Mullaitivu this week.

The body of 29-year-old Maria Jebesan Vijithan was taken to Mullaitivu district hospital for post-mortem after his unexplained death on Sunday.

Students at the University of Jaffna held protests in solidarity with Up CountryTamils in their struggle to achieve a 1000 rupee minimum wage on tea estates.

Excavation of the Mannar mass grave, where over 230 skeletons have been unearthed so far, has been temporarily suspended.

The excavation activities, which had been taking place for over 100 days, have been suspended due to officers having to undertake official court duties, Colombo Page reports, and will resume again on November 27.

<p>The Tamil Nadu government is to formally rename Anglicised town and street names next month, to Tamil names with transliterated versions in English. &nbsp;</p> <p>Examples include Triplicane to Thiruvallikeni, Trichy to Tiruchirappali, Tanjore to Thanjavur and Tuticorin to Thoothukudi.&nbsp;</p>