Colombo:- In the wake of the violence, Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo was placed under indefinite curfew and on Thursday, hundreds of people protesting near the home of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa turned violent with at least one man critically wounded. The government’s handling of the country’s crippling economic crisis was being slammed by the residents.
Demanding Rajapaksa’s resignation, Security forces fired into the crowd and used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators and more importantly protestors set fire to an army bus parked across the lane leading to Rajapaksa’s home in Colombo’s Mirihana residential quarter, as well as a police vehicle. In the wake of the violence, Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo was placed under indefinite curfew.
Lasting up to 13 hours a day, a foreign exchange crunch in Sri Lanka has led to a shortage of essential goods such as fuel, cooking gas and power cuts and also 12-hour power cuts are scheduled in Sri Lanka on Friday, as the country struggles to cope with the acute fuel shortage.
Protestors shouted slogans and they also demanded President Rajapaksa’s resignation on Thursday, directing their ire against what they perceive as the Rajapaksa regime’s gross mismanagement that has exacerbated Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange woes.
The President’s office on Friday morning said the agitation was the work of “extremists” while issuing a statement on the protest. A statement from the President’s Media Division said that “A Majority of the Agitators who organized the protests are extremists.
Published By : Ankit Singh
Edited By : Khushi Thakur
