Sri Lankan President declares emergency after violent protests

No fuel, no electricity, skyrocketing costs: The island nation of Sri Lanka is suffering from an unprecedented economic crisis. President Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency after anti-government protests.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has declared a nationwide state of emergency amid growing unrest. Police and military presence on the streets of the South Asian island nation had previously been increased.

The move serves the function of public safety, security of order and security of supplies, it said in a statement. Under the ordinance, the President can authorize arrest, confiscation of property and search of premises. He can also change or suspend laws.

Dozens injured in protests

Hundreds of protesters tried to storm the president’s private residence on Thursday. They set fire to two military buses and a police car, attacked officers with bricks and blocked a main road in Colombo with burning tyres. Security forces opened fire on the crowd and used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters. 54 people were arrested. Dozens were injured there.

Demonstrations and road jams were also held in other cities. Curfew was imposed in Colombo on Friday due to protests.

$55 billion foreign debt

The protests were triggered by an unprecedented economic crisis. Suffering from acute shortages of essential commodities, rising prices and power outages, Sri Lanka is facing its most painful economic recession since independence in 1948. Many fear that the Indian Ocean island nation will default on its debt. Experts estimate that Sri Lanka has an external debt of $ 55 billion.

Electricity goes out for several hours a day because there is not enough fuel to run power plants and dry weather has depleted hydroelectric potential. Due to the shortage of fuel, the prices of diesel are also touching the sky. Many of the approximately 22 million residents depend on their mopeds, tuk-tuks, mobile kitchens and delivery services to get by in daily life.

President’s three brothers in government

An important newspaper group will no longer print Saturday’s edition until further notice – due to paper shortages. Some weekly newspapers are printed only monthly. The government had recently postponed examinations in schools due to paucity of papers. It added that the question papers could not be printed along with the questions.

The protesters are blaming Rajapaksa for this dire situation. They accuse Rajapaksa’s political clan of economic and socio-political failure and corruption. The President’s three brothers are ministers in the government. Mahinda Rajapaksa is the Prime Minister, Tulsi Rajapaksa is the Finance Minister and Chamal Rajapaksa is the Agriculture Minister. Along with the prime minister’s son Namal Rajapaksa, another member of the family sits in the cabinet as sports minister.

More protests planned for Sunday

After the state of emergency was declared, the US ambassador warned the government against misuse of the measure. Sri Lankans have a right to protest peacefully, tweeted Ambassador Julie Chung. It is essential for the democratic expression of thought. “I am monitoring the situation closely and hope that the days ahead will bring restraint from all sides, while also bringing much-needed economic stability and relief to the victims.”

According to the United Nations, the human rights situation in Sri Lanka is also in “alarming” decline. A report published by UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet in late February documents discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities and targeted actions by security forces against civil society groups.

More demonstrations are planned across the country on Sunday. Therefore the government has vastly expanded the military presence and given special powers to the soldiers. More and more heavily armed troops were stationed at gas stations and other strategic points.