Sri Lanka crisis: Students march to Sri Lankan PM’s house in rain
new Delhi:
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa late Tuesday revoked the Emergency Rules Ordinance, which came into force on April 1, even as the government tried to quell protests amid the country’s worst economic crisis in decades. fought for
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In a gazette notification, Mr Rajapaksa said the Emergency Rules Ordinance would be repealed at midnight on April 5. He dissolved his cabinet on Monday and sought to form a unity government as public unrest grew over his handling of the economic crisis. Lack of food and fuel and prolonged power cuts.
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Sri Lanka’s president lost his parliamentary seat on Tuesday as former aides urged his resignation, after days of street protests over the island nation’s dire economic crisis. Severe shortages of food, fuel and other essentials – along with record inflation and power cuts – have caused widespread misery in the country’s most painful recession since independence from Britain in 1948.
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President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s once powerful ruling coalition, in turmoil after a string of defection, resigned on Tuesday, a day after the new finance minister took office.
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Public anger is at a fever pitch since the weekend, with crowds trying to break into the homes of several government figures and large demonstrations elsewhere. students marching Towards the Prime Minister’s residence in the rain this evening. The police have formed a human chain.
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The Sri Lankan government is five short of a majority in the 225-member house, but there has been no clear indication that legislators will attempt a no-confidence motion that will force it to resign.
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Mass protests have spread across the country despite emergency laws allowing soldiers to detain participants and a weekend curfew that ends on Monday morning.
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Mobs have tried to enter the homes of over a dozen government figures, including Rashtrapati Bhavan in Colombo. There the protesters set fire to the vehicles of the security forces, which were retaliated with rubber bullets and tear gas shells.
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Most of the demonstrations have been peaceful, with Catholic priests and nuns led by Sri Lanka’s Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith leading a procession in the capital. “It is a valuable country with intelligent people. But our intelligence, the wisdom of the people, has been humiliated by corruption,” said Mr. Ranjit.
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A severe foreign exchange crunch has left Sri Lanka struggling to service its $51 billion foreign debt, which has significant revenue from pandemic torpedo tourism and remittances. There has been an unprecedented reduction in results and the economic crisis shows no sign of abating.
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Economists say Sri Lanka’s crisis is exacerbated by government mismanagement, years of accumulated borrowing and unfair tax cuts.
With inputs from AFP