Sri Lanka imposes curfew amid food, fuel and power shortage protests

COLOMBO: APRIL. 3 – A 36-hour curfew has been declared in Sri Lanka, as a state of emergency is enforced amid violent protests against food and fuel shortages.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued a notice prohibiting anyone from being on any public road, in a park, on trains, or on the seashore, unless they have written permission from the authorities.

The curfew began at dusk on Saturday.

Social media sites have been blocked, including Facebook and Twitter.

WhatsApp is also down, and mobile phone users received a message saying this was “as directed by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission”.

The stringent restrictions are aimed at preventing new protests after crowds were accused of setting vehicles ablaze near the president’s private residence on Thursday.

The military has since been deployed and now has the power to arrest suspects without warrants.

The island nation is in the midst of a major economic crisis. It is caused in part by a lack of foreign currency, which is used to pay for fuel imports.

Faced with power cuts lasting half a day or more, and a lack of fuel and essential food and medicines, public anger has reached a new high.

Thursday’s protest outside President Rajapaksa’s Colombo house began peacefully, but participants said things turned violent after police fired tear gas, water cannons and also beat people present.

Protesters retaliated against the police by pelting them with stones.

At least two dozen police personnel were reportedly injured during the clashes, according to an official cited by the Reuters news agency.

On Friday, 53 demonstrators were arrested, and local media reported that five news photographers were detained and tortured at a police station. The government said it would investigate the latter claim.

Despite the crackdown, protests continued and spread to other parts of the country.

Demonstrators in the capital carried placards calling for the president’s resignation.

-BBC