Dozens Arrested in Sri Lanka Amid Protests Over Worsening Economy

By Staff, Agencies

Police in Sri Lanka have lifted an overnight curfew in the country’s capital after arresting dozens of people and quelling unrest that saw large crowds attempt to storm President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s private residence amid anger over a worsening economic crisis.

At least 54 people were detained in Colombo’s Mirihana district in the early hours of Friday, the police said, branding the protesters as “organized extremists” trying to “create anarchy in the country”.

Some of them “carried iron bars, sticks and sharp weapons” and tried to incite protesters to storm the president’s residence, it added.

Earlier on Thursday night, hundreds of protesters in Mirihana were throwing stones and clashing with police as they pushed through the first line of barricades blocking the road to Rajapaksa’s home.

The police responded with tear gas and water cannon as the crowds chanted “Go home Gota, go home!” and “Gota is a dictator”.

Videos from the protest site, posted by the News Wire outlet on Facebook, later showed a police bus on fire and protesters tending to a man with a bloodied face. Police said two military buses and a four-wheel drive were set ablaze.

It was not clear if the president was at his residence at the time.

A spokesperson for the police declined to comment.

The calls for Rajapaksa’s resignation came as Sri Lanka struggles with an economic downturn sparked by a foreign exchange crisis that has left the government unable to pay for imports of fuel, food, medicine and other essentials. The shortages have resulted in daily rolling blackouts for up to 13 hours in the island nation of 22 million people, and led to some state-run hospitals suspending routine surgeries.

Sri Lanka has turned to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout and is also seeking financial help from China and India. Beijing and New Delhi are reportedly each considering offering $1.5bn in credit facilities, on top of loans worth billions of dollars requested by Rajapaksa’s government.

The protests on Thursday were the latest in a series of nightly demonstrations in Colombo’s suburbs over the past week. The gathering began peacefully, with hundreds of people rallying a few streets away from Rajapaksa’s home.