By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo

Many around the country are “petrified” at a wave of violent crime, or rumoured crime

In one town, at least 4,000 people laid siege to a government office for several hours.

It happened after members of the navy shot and seriously wounded two townspeople who had been demonstrating and accusing them of harbouring violent criminals.

In the words of one minister, many Sri Lankans around the country are “petrified” at a wave of violent crime, or rumoured crime.

Crowds have lynched two people in retaliation, and turned their wrath on members of the security forces they accuse of harbouring the guilty or instigating the crimes.

Attacks by military

There are reports, and pictures in the papers, of women wounded by attackers and also of a man badly beaten up in vigilante-style violence.

	Attacks by the military on protesters have heightened tensions

The Justice Minister had to travel to the eastern town of Kinniya and negotiate an end to local people’s siege of a government office.

He has renewed an appeal to people not to take the law into their own hands and victimise strangers among them.

But incidents like the army’s killing of a protestor last week, and the navy’s shooting of two more on Sunday, have heightened tensions.

The crime wave includes a series of killings of elderly women in southern Sri Lanka several weeks ago, and copycat assaults since then.

Some attackers are said to wear masks and to prey on people’s fears of night-time assailants dressed like devils.

The wave of vigilantism is mainly among Sri Lanka’s Muslim and Tamil minorities.

And they seem to be blaming the security forces for the crimes afflicting them.