Sri Lanka suffers from fuel shortages and rising food prices. Now protests have turned violent.
Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has declared a national emergency amid rising protests over rising living costs, fuel shortages and power outages. According to official information, it came into force on Saturday.
This gives the President far-reaching security powers. The armed forces also now have greater powers to arrest and detain people. More demonstrations are planned for Sunday across the country as unhappiness grows over food shortages and the rising cost of living.
The state of emergency was declared after a protest started in front of the president’s private residence in Mirihana, about 14 kilometers south of the capital Colombo, on Thursday evening and had turned violent. Protesters threw stones at police officers and set fire to two buses, among other things, Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said on Friday. The police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse around 3,000 people. 53 people were arrested and more than 50 people were injured.
Sri Lanka has asked India and China for help in sourcing food and fuel, and has also asked the International Monetary Fund for financial assistance.
In the past few weeks, there have been mainly smaller protests across the country. Because in the island state south of India there is a great shortage of fuel for power generation. There are currently hour-long power outages every day. Food prices have also risen sharply. The country is heavily indebted and desperately needs US dollars to import fuel, gas, food and medicines from abroad.
Source: Stern
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