Local residents in the southern port town stormed the ground after they were told that tickets for Saturday’s match at the 35,000-capacity Mahinda Rajapakse International Stadium had been sold out, a security official told AFP.

“The crowds got very boisterous and they smashed the barricades and forcibly entered the grounds,” the official said, asking not to be named. “The baton charge did not deter them. A few thousand got in.”