Public outrage swells in Sri Lanka

Gotabaya Rajapaksa faces pressure as coalition partners seek new caretaker government.

Defying a curfew imposed by the government, Sri Lanka’s political opposition, several student groups, and citizens took to the streets on Sunday, as public outrage swells over the Rajapaksa administration’s crisis response.

While the country awaits a critical economic recovery plan from the government, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa faces heightening pressure, including from the government’s coalition partners. They are seeking a new Cabinet and a caretaker government immediately, else threatening to quit.

In the afternoon, scores of university students in Colombo gathered near Nugegoda, a dense Colombo suburb, and marched chanting anti-government slogans. Despite heavy police presence they persisted with the rally. A similar protest was held by students of the University of Peradeniya, in the central Kandy district, when police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowd, local media reports said. Citizens continued holding pocket protests near their homes in different locations.

Separately, Sri Lanka’s main opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) sought to hold a protest march at Colombo’s Independence Square on Sunday morning, when police and troops blocked them from marching to the venue by placing barricades.

The SJB’s allies and other prominent members of the Opposition, who were also present, said the Emergency and curfew were aimed at “quelling people’s protests”. 

Over the past week, citizen’s protests have intensified across Sri Lanka, as the country’s economic crisis worsens. Families and businesses are struggling amid a persisting shortage of food supplies and fuel, soaring prices of essentials, and long power cuts.

Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa accused the government of resorting to “authoritarianism”, “autocratic measures” and “dictatorship” to silence people’s voices. “Today is one of the darkest days of Sri Lanka’s democratic political life,” he told The Hindu. “The regime has used excessive power to subjugate and constrain the democratic rights of the people of the country.”