Thousands Protest At Lanka President's Home, Special Task Force Called In
NDTV
By evening today, the people started converging on the road near the house of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, demanding that he intervene in the situation.
People in Sri Lankan capital Colombo, suffering for weeks under a terrible economic crisis, erupted in protest late this evening. More than 2000 people held a protest march in the Lankan capital and clashed with the police. The paramilitary police unit, a Special Task Force, had to be called in to quell the protests.
There has been a critical shortage of food and essential items, fuel and gas for weeks as the country grapples with the worst economic downturn since its independence.
This evening, diesel was no longer available, leaving the country's 22 million people under a 13-hour power blackout and keeping transport off the roads. The blackout had spin-off effect on state-run hospitals which already had stopped surgeries due to shortage of medicines.
The electricity rationing hit mobile phone base stations and affected the quality of calls. The Colombo Stock Exchange had to limit trading by half to two hours, and offices asked non-essential staff to stay home.
