Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa bans attendance in public places during curfew amid economic crisis

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered on Saturday that no one should go into public places without permission during a government-imposed 36-hour curfew ahead of an anti-government rally over the worst economic crisis in the island nation.

Rajapaksa issued a special gazette notification on Friday, declaring a public emergency in Sri Lanka from April 1. In another regulation following his action to impose a state of emergency after ordering a nationwide curfew, Rajapaksa said no one should come. Exit and visit public places during curfew.

“I understand that it is necessary to maintain public order in the areas…. 2, 2022, 0600 hours of April 4, 2022, except by the right of a written permit,” he said.

However, peaceful protests continued till the night even after the curfew was imposed at 6 pm on Saturday. Despite curfew orders, people were seen protesting in several suburbs of Colombo. In recent weeks, public anger has been rising against the government for its handling of the country’s worst economic crisis ever.

People faced power outages for hours apart from standing in long queues for fuel and cooking gas. The demand for Rajapaksa’s resignation continues to grow. Shortage of foreign exchange in Sri Lanka has led to shortage of essential goods like fuel and cooking gas. Power cuts last for 13 hours in a day.

Sri Lanka is currently facing the worst economic crisis in history. People have been troubled for weeks due to long lines for fuel, cooking gas, essential items in short supply and hours of power cuts. Rajapaksa has defended his government’s actions, saying the foreign exchange crisis was not his and the economic slowdown was largely driven by the pandemic.

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