Sri Lanka’s all-powerful Rajapaksas under fire

The move comes as spontaneous pocket protests erupt in different parts of the country

Anger is boiling over in Sri Lanka at the country’s worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, much of it directed at the island nation’s all-powerful Rajapaksa family.

Late Thursday, hundreds of people tried to storm the home of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the current President and one of four politically active brothers. In a night of violence one person was injured and 45 were arrested.

AFP profiles the clan, which has held sway over the nation’s politics for decades and which returned to power after a brief hiatus in 2019 when Gotabaya was elected president.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, 76, is the charismatic head of the group and the current Prime Minister. He previously held the post in 2004, and was then President from 2005 to 2015.

Mr. Gotabaya appointed him to the prime ministership a second time three years ago.

Mr. Mahinda is adored by the Sinhala-Buddhist majority for crushing separatist Tamil rebels in May 2009 following a brutal military offensive that ended a decades-long civil war.

The bloody final weeks of the civil war ended with — according to UN estimates — the deaths of around 40,000 civilians, who were herded into so-called no-fire zones that were then bombed by the Sri Lankan armed forces.