The island of Sri Lanka is extremely restless – mass protests and open clashes between supporters of the current government and the opposition, the reason is the protracted economic crisis. According to The Indian Express, about 150 people have already been injured in the clashes, three have died.
President Rajapaksa has extended the curfew ban on public roads, parks, beaches, playgrounds and generally all public places until 07:00 local time on Wednesday. The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority has urged foreign tourists to stay in their hotels.
Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror, citing sources in the leadership of the country’s main international airport, Bandaranaike, near Colombo, the unofficial capital and largest city of the island, writes that the protesters blocked the road to the air harbor so that officials could not leave the country.
On April 12, the authorities of Sri Lanka declared default due to the largest economic crisis in the history of the existence of this state. The Ministry of Finance of the island announced that the reason for this was recent events – the consequences of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Yesterday, Sri Lankan President Gotabhai Rajapaksa accepted the resignation of the Prime Minister, concurrently his own brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, but the opposition also demand the resignation of Gotabhai. During the protests, a deputy of the ruling party Amarakerti Atukorala was found dead, who, together with a personal driver, was surrounded by oppositionists in a car, after which the parliamentarian hid from his pursuers and committed suicide.