1915 Riots
The Sinhalese-Muslim Riots (known as the 1915 riots) which began in Kandy soon spread across the island. The British Governor of Ceylon Sir Robert Chalmers, fearing he might lose control of the colony, on advice of Brigadier General Malcolm, came down with a heavy hand on the Sinhalese community, declared martial law on 2 June 1915 and ordered the police and the Army to shoot without a trial anyone who they deemed a rioter. It is said the numbers of Sinhalese killed this way were thousands. With the escalation of the violence looting broke out within Colombo. Capt. Pedris, responsible for the defence of the city, successfully managed to disband several rioting groups after peaceful discussions.
The vanity and jealousy towards Capt. Pedris and the rich Pedris family of both the British and their sinhalese henchmen, led by Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranike the Maha Mudaliyar (chief native interpreter and adviser to the Governor) culminated in false charges being drawn up against Capt. Pedris and which would result him being court martialed. It was alleged Pedris shot at a group of Muslim and had incited people to march to the city of Colombo from Peliyagoda. Based on these accusations, he was swiftly arrested.
Following his arrest the British, fearing open rebellion, imprisoned more than 80 prominent Sinhalese leaders. Among those imprisoned were D. S. Senanayake (the future first Prime Minister of independent Ceylon), D. R. Wijewardena, Edwin Wijeyeratne, Dr. Cassius Pereira, E. T. De Silva, F.R. Dias Bandaranaike, H. Amarasuriya, A.H. Molamure and several others.
See also: Sri Lankan independence movement#Dharmapala, 1915 and the Ceylon National CongressRead more about this topic: Riots In Sri Lanka