Sri Lankan police said one Muslim man was killed during the brawl in the city of Negombo

The post was published here on Facebook on March 10, 2020.

Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post: 

The post’s Sinhala-language caption translates to English as: “A few moments ago, loving Muslim friends from Ansar got together and beheaded two Sinhalese. We hear both have been killed.. This is close to the color light passing the Negombo Periyamulla Maristella...Anti-Riot Squad has also been deployed.”

Ansar Restaurant & Bake House is a restaurant in Negombo, a coastal city in Western Sri Lanka.

Maristella is the name of a school in Negombo. 

The post and images were also shared here and here on Facebook, alongside a similar claim.

The claim is false; the photos in the misleading posts were taken outside Ansar Restaurant & Bake House, but the details of the incident have been misreported.  

The Negombo Police Division’s officer in charge SSP Saman Sigera said the claim that two Sinhalese men were beheaded was “completely false”.

During a phone conversation with AFP on March 10, 2020, he said an incident happened inside Ansar restaurant at 21:30 on March 9, 2020. He explained a fight broke out following a dispute sparked by the restaurant's refusal to serve alcohol.

He said: “There has been one death as a result of the clash; it is a 36-year Muslim who was employed at the hotel.”

The Sri Lankan Police Media Unit on March 10, 2020 emailed AFP a copy of the incident report.

Below is a screenshot of the release:

The first paragraph of the statement translates to English as: "On 2020.03.09 at around 9.30 pm a group of six persons had entered a hotel located in Periyamulla, Negombo and attempted to consume alcohol and the hotel owner and its employees had objected to it. Thereafter the group clashed with the hotel owner and employees. During the clash, the group had attacked the hotel owner and his staff with a sharp object and fled. The hotel owner and four employees had sustained grave injuries and were admitted to the Negombo hospital and one employee had succumbed to injuries."

AFP also spoke to Freddy Gamage, a journalist at Sri Lankan news site Meepura, who said the one killed and others who suffered injuries during the incident were all Muslim.

During a phone conversation on March 10, 2020, he said: “The hotel owners and staff had refused to permit consumption of alcohol because it was a Poya day and the hotel is owned by Muslims. The refusal had led to a clash and the staffer who worked in the hopper station had succumbed to his injuries. He is a father of three children and a resident of Kekirawa.”

Poya days are religious days in Sri Lanka, when the sale of alcohol is banned by law. 

The photos in the misleading post correspond with Google Street View images of Ansar Restaurant & Bake House.

The photos also correspond with photos of the incident shared by local journalist Shakir Thawfeek on Twitter in the early hours of March 10.

1 Person Dead and 2 reported injured during an attack by a Mob in Periyamulla Negombo this evening around 9.45pm
souce pic.twitter.com/VUvD7M8uaq

— Shakir Thawfeek™ (@shakirthawfeek_) March 9, 2020