Sri Lankan police fire tear gas and water cannons to quell protests in front of PM Mahinda Rajapaksa’s home
The Hindu
Around 2,000 people descended near the PM Mahinda Rajapaksa’s residence and pulled down barricades chanting anti-Rajapaksa slogans
Sri Lankan police fired tear gas and water cannons at some 2,000 irate protesters who defied curfew orders and tried to storm Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s residence in Tangalle on April 4, demanding his resignation amid the worst economic crisis in the country.
Around 2,000 people descended near the Prime Minister’s residence known as Carlton House in Tangalle, situated 200 km south of Colombo, and pulled down barricades chanting anti-Rajapaksa slogans.
Interestingly, Tangalle, which has a Sinhalese-majority population, is considered to be the bastion of the powerful Rajapaksa clan.
According to eyewitness accounts, angry protesters managed to dodge the police and were seen running towards Mr. Rajapaksa’s gates clamouring for his resignation.
The Government’s poor handling of the economic crisis where citizens currently endure long hours of power outages and scarcity of essentials has angered the public that has resulted in planned and sustained country-wide protests since April 3.
These protests have prompted the Government to declare an emergency and impose a 36-hour curfew and a social media ban.
On Sunday anti-Government protests were staged here in Independence Square, protesting President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s move to impose a state of emergency and a raft of other restrictions here in Independence Square.
In 2021, five women from Mayithara, four of them MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers, found a common ground in their desire to create a sustainable livelihood by growing vegetables. Rajamma M., Mary Varkey, Valsala L., Elisho S., and Praseeda Sumesh, aged between 70 and 39, pooled their savings, rented a piece of land and began their collective vegetable farming journey under the Deepam Krishi group.