Facebook dragged into a violent political quarrel in Sri Lanka

In a letter to Facebook leader Mark Zuckerberg, the Unified National Party (UNP) said the information gleaned from the social media site could be used against party members who use the site "in a legally prohibited way."

He urged Facebook to hide the identity of its supporters to protect them.

This occurred in a climate of increasing acrimony between UNP members and other parties due to a stalemate in the country 's parliament.

The country's speaker, Karu Jayasuriya, received books and chairs in the meeting room on Friday after allowing a vote of no confidence against the prime minister.

The motion of censure was adopted, but Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa refused to accept the result of the vote and insisted that the president did not have the power to remove him from office.

The UNP letter, sent on Thursday, said: "It is very likely that officials of the current illegal administration (…) can ask Facebook for information about some Sri Lankan users of Facebook who should rightly be private.

"Such requests may include information about named individuals, geolocations and other identifying details of users who view and publish on these pages," the letter says.

"It is essential that this information is backed up because the current illegal administration will most likely use it in a legally prohibited way."

UNP party spokesman Piyasena Dissanayaka said Sunday that Facebook had blocked its official page before a public rally on Thursday but had reinstated it on Saturday.

He added that Facebook officials have not yet responded to the letter.

Facebook officials have also not yet responded to a request for comment from the Associated Press.

Mr. Jayasuriya, of UNP, had to be escorted by the police on Friday to go to the Parliament Hall. Several officers were injured, as unorthodox missiles were launched in his direction.

Opposition deputies were also among the victims before the start of the prosecution.

Rajapaksa has been in office since October 26 only after his predecessor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was sacked by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisenadue because of disagreement over economic reforms.

The line left the country without an official government, although Rajapaksa refused to withdraw.

Mr Wickremesinghe also claims that he is still Prime Minister.

On Sunday, Sirisenadue summoned political leaders for talks to end the power struggle.

After the vote of no-confidence against Rajapakse on Friday, the second against him, Mr Wickremesinghe, called for the reinstatement of his government, but Mr Sirisenadue has still not responded.

Both parties warned that a long period of instability could result in violence in a country that has not yet emerged from a civil war.