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‘Utter disgrace’: drama at Miss Sri Lanka New York pageant as party turns violent
- The first-ever Miss Sri Lanka New York, held to raise funds for Sri Lanka’s national cancer hospital, saw guests raining blows on one another
- Netizens slammed the ‘typical behaviour of village Sri Lankans’ for tarnishing the diaspora’s image in the US
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The maiden edition of Miss Sri Lanka New York was marred by a scuffle involving several people at the pageant’s after-party in the South Beach neighbourhood on Staten Island.
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A video of the ruckus, which went viral on social media, showed men and women, including the contestants, raining blows on each other at the event attended by more than 300 guests last Friday.
It was not clear what triggered the clash that also led to damage to property. Reports said multiple arrests were made in connection with the incident.
Angelia Gunasekara was crowned Miss Sri Lanka New York at the beauty parade organised to raise funds for the country’s national cancer hospital, which is facing equipment and medicine shortages amid a dire economic crisis.
Sri Lanka has endured months of scarcity of crucial goods including food and fuel, along with lengthy electricity blackouts and skyrocketing inflation after running out of foreign currency to finance essential imports.
The coronavirus pandemic dealt a hammer blow to the island’s tourism industry and dried up remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad – both key foreign exchange earners.
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The organisers decided to hold the event on Staten Island, home to a large Sri Lankan diaspora, to help the South Asian nation which is in a “difficult condition”.
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