Published: April 9, 2022 8:04 PM IST 
Colombo: Tens of thousands of people marched on beleaguered Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office on Saturday, in the biggest ever protest over the country’s dire economic and political crisis. In the island country’s worst downturn since independence in 1948, Sri Lanka’s 22 million people, for several weeks now, have been enduring power blackouts, long lines to buy fuel, cooking gas, food, medicine and other essentials, most of which come from abroad and are paid for in the hard currency.
Saturday’s social-media organised protest drew the largest numbers since the crisis blew up last month, according to an AFP report. Pressure on Rajapaksa intensified further as the country’s powerful business community also began withdrawing support for the president. Leaders from 23 business associations representing export, import and logistics companies told reporters in the capital, Colombo, that they want lawmakers to “act responsibly and resolutely to implement remedial solutions to halt and then reverse the rapidly deteriorating situation.”
The associations warned that their industries, which collectively earn around USD 16.7 billion annually through exports of merchandise and services, would come to a standstill if the current situation continues.
Men and women poured onto Colombo’s seafront promenade and laid siege to the colonial-era Presidential Secretariat, chanting “Go home Gota” and waving the national lion flag, reported AFP. Others carried handwritten placards that read “It’s time for you to leave” and “enough is enough.”
Barricades blocked the entrance to the president’s office with police in riot gear taking up positions inside the tightly guarded compound. The protests appeared to be peaceful, but a police official said teargas and water cannon were at the ready if needed. On Friday security forces fired water cannon at demonstrating students.
Residents told AFP that there were widespread protests in the suburbs of the capital too while the Catholic and Anglican churches also brought their followers onto the streets. The head of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith also led a protest in the town of Negombo, just north of Colombo, urging people to continue protesting till the Rajapaksa administration resigned.
The Indian Ocean island nation is experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades. The extent of the crisis became clear when Sri Lanka couldn’t pay for imports of basic supplies because of its huge debts and dwindling foreign reserves. The country has nearly USD 7 billion in foreign debt obligations for this year alone. Sri Lanka has to pay foreign debt of over USD 25 billion over the next five years.
In a bid to resolve the crisis, Sri Lanka’s new Central Bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said they were expediting the debt restructuring process and will also to seek financial assistance from the IMF. He said that move would “give a strong message to international investors, our creditors and market that we are going to come out from the crisis as soon as possible.” His comments came just after the Central Bank decided to increase the interest rates by 7%.
The bank said a substantial policy response is needed to arrest the build up of demand-driven inflation and to provide the impetus to stabilize the exchange rate.
Nationwide protests over the country’s economic troubles have expanded to include criticism of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his politically powerful family. Thousands of people from all walks of life have been demonstrating this week, demanding a solution to the crisis and calling for Rajapaksa to resign.
Rajapaksa has resisted the demands to step down, even after members of his own coalition joined them this week, with governing party lawmakers calling for the appointment of an interim government to avoid possible violence.
Rajapaksa earlier proposed the creation of a unity government, but the main opposition party rejected the idea. Cabinet members submitted their resignations on Sunday, and on Tuesday nearly 40 governing coalition lawmakers said they would no longer vote according to coalition instructions, significantly weakening the government.
This has turned the economic crisis into a political one, with no functioning Cabinet. Parliament has failed to reach a consensus on how to deal with the crisis.
The president and his older brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, continue to hold power, despite their family being the focus of public ire. Five other family members are lawmakers, including Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, Irrigation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa and a nephew, Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa.
The government estimates the COVID-19 pandemic has cost Sri Lanka’s tourism-dependent economy $14 billion in the last two years. Rajapaksa last month said his government was in talks with the International Monetary Fund and had turned to China and India for loans, and he appealed to people to limit their use of fuel and electricity.
(With Agency Inputs)
Follow Us 
By 
