Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa revokes state of Emergency

The revocation of the gazette assumes significance as the ruling coalition appeared to have lost its majority,

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa late Tuesday, April 5, 2022 night revoked the state of Emergency he had declared on April 1 with immediate effect.

In a gazette notification no 2274/10 issued late Tuesday night, the President said he has withdrawn the Emergency Rule Ordinance which gave security forces sweeping powers to curb any disturbance in the country.

President Rajapaksa has declared a public Emergency on April 1 amid a spate of protests over the worst economic crisis in the country.

The Emergency was imposed because of the mass scale protests planned for April 3 against the current economic hardships faced by the people.

Later, the government imposed an island-wide curfew. Protests continued despite curfew and the state of emergency with senior ruling party figures having their homes surrounded by angry protesters who urged the government for solutions to the economic crisis.

Several people were injured and vehicles were set on fire as the agitation turned violent. Police fired tear gas and water cannons at the protesters after they pulled down a steel barricade placed near the president’s residence. Following the incident, several people were arrested and a curfew was briefly imposed in most parts of Colombo city.

A foreign exchange crunch in Sri Lanka has led to a shortage of essential goods such as fuel and cooking gas. Power cuts that last up to 13 hours a day.