Police fired tear gas and water cannons at angry protesters demanding his resignation after they gathered in front of the residence of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday, as the island nation grapples with its worst financial crisis in decades.
Sri Lanka’s foreign trade crisis has led to shortages of essential commodities such as fuel. cooking gas, and power cuts that remain off for up to thirteen hours a day.
Protesters chanted slogans, expressing their anger at what they characterized as gross mismanagement by the Rajapaksa regime that has exacerbated Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange woes.
Protesters carrying placards saying “No Petrol, No Gas, No Milk Powder, No Electricity”, “Go Domestic Gota”, were then considered marching towards Rajapaksa’s private residence on Pangiriwatte Lane here.
Police fired tear gas and water cannons at the protesters after they pulled down steel barricades positioned near Gotabaya’s residence.
On Thursday, Sri Lanka switched off avenue lights in Colombo and numerous parts of various cities to conserve electricity.
The US is battling power outages of up to 13 hours on Thursday as authorities have no foreign exchange for fuel imports.
The situation is so dire that several government-run hospitals have stopped surgeries because they have run out of life-saving drugs.
According to the country’s central bank, inflation rose to 17.5% in February this year and is forecast to rise similarly in the near future as authorities allow the near-foreign currency to float freely, leading to higher fees for gas. and other essentials.
Rajapaksa, however, has defended his authority by saying that the foreign exchange crisis was not of his making and that the financial crisis was once largely driven by the pandemic.