Sri Lankans demand President Rajapaksa's resignation amid economic crisis
Colombo (Sri Lanka), April 18: In the midst of Sri Lanka's ongoing economic crisis, a series of protests erupted, with protesters demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's immediate resignation for his failure to address the matter.
Sri Lankan citizens staged a protest outside the President's house which was exacerbated when Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared all the protesters as extremists, arresting many of them.
Students, farmers and judiciary members all joined the demonstration against the Rajapaksa family and voiced the slogan of "No more Rajapaksas". As the protest spread on social media, the regime took down the internet, infuriating the demonstrators even more for suppressing their democratic rights, resulting in the use of virtual private networks to access the same.
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Some of Rajapaksa's family members and financiers have even fled the country, fearing the people's uprising. Citizens are calling for Rajapaksa to resign as President and for an electoral process to be held, not complying to which will lead to complete anarchy.
According to the flagship university NUS, cabinet ministers have resigned; and the demand from the protestors for a new leadership made the newly elected Finance Minister Ali Sabry resign as well.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, Sri Lanka has slipped into a dire economic crisis due to debt troubles, liquidity problems and minimum foreign reserves leading to long power outages, and scarcity of fuel affecting manufacturing industries and the middle class.
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-PTC News
