colombo streets were calm on tuesday in the sri lankan commercial capital of colombo after a day of clashes that killed seven people and injured more than 200 police said in violence that prompted prime minister mahinda rajapaksa to resignas the indian ocean nation battles its worst economic crisis in history thousands of protesters defied curfew to attack government figures setting ablaze homes shops and businesses belonging to ruling party lawmakers and provincial politiciansthe situation is calmer now though there are still reports of sporadic unrest said police spokesman nihal thalduwaabout 200 people were injured in addition to the seven killed as violence flared nationwide prompting an islandwide curfew until 700 am 0130 gmt on wednesdayno arrests have yet been made in the incidents of violence the spokesman said attributing three of the deaths to gunshot injuriesthe attacks on government figures came in apparent reprisal for an incident just hours before rajapaksas resignationon monday rajapaksa spoke to hundreds of supporters gathered at his official residence following reports that he was considering stepping downafter his remarks many of them armed with iron bars stormed a camp of those protesting against the government beating them and setting fire to their tentspolice fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse the skirmishers after having initially done little to hold back the government supporters according to reuters witnessesthousands streamed into the streets in celebration after rajapaksas resignation but the mood quickly became tenseprotesters attempted to tear down the gates of temple trees his residence in the centre of colombo where broken glass and discarded footwear littered the surrounding streets on tuesday after some of the nights worst clashesmilitary troops patrolled the area where eight torched vehicles lay partially submerged in a lake discarded files and smashed equipment littered the ransacked offices of government officialssri lankas unprecedented economic crisis follows a pandemic that hit key tourism earnings leaving it grappling with rising oil prices and tax cuts by the government of president gotabaya rajapaksa the prime ministers younger brotherfollowing a currency devaluation it has turned to multilateral lenders such as the world bank and the international monetary fund for assistanceformer finance minister ali sabry who resigned on monday along with the rest of rajapaksas cabinet has said useable foreign reserves stand at as little as 50 millionshortages of fuel food and medicine have brought thousands onto the streets in more than a month of protests that had been mostly peaceful until this week