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Police fired tear gas on students trying to storm Sri Lanka’s parliament Thursday as the protesters started demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the nation’s worst-ever economic crisis. Protesters led by the Inter-University Students’ Federation were on their way to tear down the yellow-painted iron barricades on the main drive leading to the senate when riot police opened fire with tear gas.
When police moved in, the students had marched from a nearby university and were closing in on the parliament building, which was located on a
Even as the crowds dispersed, police continued to fire tear gas canisters, according to witnesses, which hit shops in the nearby Diyatha Uyana park.
Police had earlier erected barricades around the sprawling parliament complex, where an unopposed vacancy for deputy speaker was being filled.
For months, Sri Lanka’s 22 million people have faced severe food, fuel, and medicine shortages, prompting tens of thousands to take to the streets to demand Rajapaksa and other members of his powerful ruling family resign.
Despite escalating protests across the island, the president and his family have stated unequivocally that they will not step down.
Labor unions
Trade unions in Sri Lanka have called a one-day strike for Friday.
The strike organisers have asked temples and houses of worship to ring their bells for an hour on Friday morning in solidarity.
Finance Minister Ali Sabry warned on Wednesday that the country’s unprecedented economic hardships would last at least two years.
Sabry stated that the country has much less than $50 million in usable foreign exchange reserves, which are required to finance essential goods in order to keep Sri Lanka’s import-dependent economy running
Official data shows reserves at $1.7 billion, but most of that start figuring includes a Chinese currency swap which cannot be used to pay for foreign imports.
Sabry claimed that the government blundered by delaying a bailout request to the International Monetary Fund.
Sri Lanka’s financial downturn took hold after the coronavirus pandemic decimated tourism and remittance income.
Last month, Colombo declared it was defaulting on its $51 billion foreign
