The grease devil crisis was a moral panic caused by a wave of violent incidents affecting mainly the Tamil and Muslim ethnic minorities in post-war Sri Lanka between August and September 2011. Widespread incidents of male intruders covered in black grease, dubbed "grease devils", assaulting women in their homes at night were reported across the country. The culprits were widely suspected to have been linked to the Sri Lankan security forces. The incidents sparked vigilante violence; and clashes between the minority communities and the security forces for the first time since the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009. The crisis was seen by analysts as a manifestation of the widespread feelings of insecurity and distrust of the authorities among these communities.
Background Sri Lanka had emerged from a 26-year civil war sparked by ethnic tensions between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils which came to an end in May 2009 with the victory of the Sinhalese-dominated government forces amid allegations of widespread human rights abuses. Post-war Sri Lanka saw heavy military presence in the Tamil-majority north and east which left the war-ravaged communities, especially women, in a vulnerable situation with reports of sexual violence by the security forces. There was a culture of impunity for wartime atrocities, as the government rejected independent investigation. Increasing militarisation of the north was a major issue, which was described as "extraordinarily high" with an estimated ratio of one security personnel for every five civilians. The larger issues that led to the war remained unresolved and the Tamil population remained alienated from the state. By the start of 2011, there had been a spate of killings, abductions and burglaries in the north, causing panic among locals who suspected state-affiliated forces.
Grease devil incidents Central provinces In July 2011, two Sri Lankan Army soldiers and two deserters were arrested in connection to a series of sexual assaults and murders of seven mostly elderly women in the largely Sinhalese town of Kahawatta in southern Sri Lanka. These incidents sparked rumours of a "ghost" among the locals and sensationalist media coverage of the crimes fuelled fears nationally. The old figure of the "greased robber", who smeared his body in grease to evade capture, transformed into a more sinister form as an attacker of women. Amid the growing fears, seven youths from the Kandy area, accused of being grease devils, were arrested on 2 August for peeping into homes at night. The police held a press conference on 5 August to allay public panic, announcing the grease devil to be a myth, while also contradictorily stating that they had all been arrested.
Between 8 August and 10 September, the panic escalated into a crisis in rural areas predominantly inhabited by Tamil-speaking ethnic minorities, as the Tamil news media reported hundreds of daily grease devil sightings and attacks. It began with reports of a series of attacks on Indian Tamil women in the Central Province that left them with scratches on their bodies. One 30-year-old Devika Joseph was hospitalised following such attack by an intruder at her Badulla home. The widespread reports sparked a demonstration by women in Badulla town. The first incident of vigilante violence erupted on a tea estate in Haputale on 11 August when a group of Indian Tamil workers killed two salesmen who were mistaken for grease devils. As the panic spread, the tea estates in the province became paralysed for days as workers stayed home in fear.
Eastern Province Muslims The frequency of reported grease devil incidents soon shifted to the war-torn eastern and northern provinces where the crisis became most severe. On 10 August, two Muslim women were attacked outside their houses on the east coast. In Valaichchenai, a 31-year-old Ushanar Marzuka was confronted by two men with their faces painted black and was scratched by one of them with a sharp object. Some hundred locals who gathered after hearing her cries caught one of the suspects who was beaten before being handed over to the police. Soon after the arrest, the police released the suspect, which provoked anger among the locals and the ensuing clashes between them and the police led to two civilians and two policemen being hospitalised with injuries. Later that day, further south in Pottuvil, a 22-year-old Aashika was attacked by a man dressed in black who then fled.
On 11 August, in mainly Muslim areas in the southeastern district of Ampara, there was a surge in grease devil incidents and suspects who were caught by the locals and handed over to the police were soon released which angered the locals. That many of the suspects had run into police stations and military camps also reinforced the popular suspicion of the grease devils being soldiers in disguise; and the police was seen as complicit in their dismissing public fears as imaginary. The collapse of public confidence in law enforcement led to vigilante groups patrolling their areas and attacking suspected grease devils.
Several incidents that night created panic among locals in and around Pottuvil, leading to clashes with the army, arrests and culminating in violent protests the next day, followed by a curfew being imposed. Wildlife officers carrying out an elephant census that night were attacked by villagers in Pottuvil and Sammanthurai further north. Villagers pursued the officers to a police station in Sammanthurai where a violent confrontation with the police ensued. In Urani of Pottuvil, authorities failed to convince agitated villagers the officers they had caught were not grease devils. Clashes with soldiers ensued when the army intervened. Six individuals were severely assaulted by the army and taken to the Pottuvil police station before being hospitalised. On the next day, protesters clashed with the Pottuvil police demanding the release of those who had been arrested and the removal of the army from the area, which prompted intervention by the army who assaulted protesters and shot dead a local Muslim politician.
On the same day in Thirukkovil further north, villagers clashed with the police demanding the grease devil suspects in custody to be handed over to them, prompting the police to open fire, wounding two protesters and killing one.
On 15 August, a 20-year-old woman was attacked at her home in Akkaraipattu by two men dressed in black who groped and scratched the victim after binding her. Further north in the Muslim town of Kinniya in Trincomalee District, there had been violent confrontations between the locals and the security forces since the previous day over a suspected grease devil being sheltered at the navy base. On the 14th, two of the large crowd of demonstrators outside the base were shot and injured by the navy and 24 others were arrested by the Special Task Force (STF). The next day a government office in the town was sieged by about 4,000 demonstrators demanding their release, which was later defused with the intervention of top Muslim ministers from Colombo. Consequently, military presence was increased in the town, subjecting residents to checks.
As the grease devil sightings intensified, fear and tension prevailed, suspicion of outsiders grew, women stayed indoors and mosque attendance for evening prayers dwindled. Many Muslims in the east believed the attacks were meant as a religious provocation since they took place in the holy month of Ramadan. Rumours and conspiracy theories also circulated which attributed superhuman powers to the grease devils.
Tamils Thereafter, increasing numbers of grease devil incidents were being reported in Tamil areas of these provinces, starting with Batticaloa District in the east. On 16 August, residents of Puthoor staged a demonstration calling for the removal of the Sethukuda police station after a suspicious man they had pursued run into it. Another demonstration against the police erupted the next day in nearby Urani after an intruder had escaped into a police post following an assault on a young woman at her house. The police attacked the protesters, hospitalising an elderly person. The villagers accused the security forces of attempting to commit sexual assaults against Tamil women while using the grease devil issue as an excuse. On 18 August in Thandiyadi, a confrontation between villagers and the STF ensued after villagers learned four strangers had been brought to a jungle nearby. Many of the villagers were severely beaten by the STF and 18 of those arrested by the police were later hospitalised. The villagers expressed distrust of the police and opposed their presence in their villages.
Northern Province Vavuniya District In the northern district of Vavuniya, fears about grease devils sparked violent confrontation between Tamil villagers and the police. On the night of 20 August, two strange men suspected to be grease devils were seen in Komarasankulam with a motorbike registered in a southern province. When the villagers later found the men hiding in a bush and questioned them, the men claimed to be police officers but refused to produce identification. Agitated villagers attacked the men with sticks and blocked police officers from taking the men to their custody even as a police sergeant identified the men as police. Eventually the situation was defused with the arrival of army officers who took the men to their custody. However, about 60 armed policemen in riot gear arrived at the scene, prompting many villagers to flee. The remaining 75 men and boys were detained by the police. They were beaten with sticks and poles, including a Christian priest who tried to intervene, breaking one boy's leg. Many escaped but eleven were arrested and severely beaten in police jeep before being taken to the police station, where two of them were subjected to further torture before being hospitalised.
Widespread reports of sexual assaults and robberies committed by armed Sinhalese intruders suspected to be linked to the security forces stoked grease devil scare among Tamil and Muslim residents in remote villages in the district, forcing many to seek shelter in more populated areas during that weekend. Some intruders captured by villagers revealed they were home guards operated by the Defence Ministry and were rescued by the police.
Mannar District There were also daily attacks on women in the Tamil-dominated northwestern coastal area of Pesalai in the Mannar District since 14 August. On 21 August, villagers there chased a suspected grease devil into a navy checkpoint after he had jumped over the fence of a house. Villagers numbering about 1000 gathered near the checkpoint and demanded the suspect be produced. They were attacked by military personnel and between 10 and 15 people were hospitalised with severe injuries.
In Thottaveli further southeast, fears about grease devils among villagers had led to vigilance committees being established on 19 August with police permission to guard the village each night. On the evening of 22 August, villagers chased a suspected grease devil who managed to escape after he had entered a woman's house. Later that night, villagers blocked an army truck from entering the village but the army officers insisted they had control over the entire area and rejected the vigilance committee. As an argument ensued, two officers began beating the villagers with guns and batons, injuring three. The rest ran toward the nearby church and rang its bell to sound the alarm, prompting about 500 villagers to gather near it, who were also beaten by the army officers. Later, twenty more army officers arrived and began beating the villagers, including women and children.