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A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 10 May 2022
Sri Lankan prime minister resigns after weeks of protests

By KRISHAN FRANCIS, to oust him. The resignation
BHARATHA MALLAWARA- of the prime minister meant
CHI and KRUTIKA PATHI the entire Cabinet was dis-
Associated Press solved.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) Earlier on Monday, the
— Sri Lanka’s prime minister prime minister’s supporters
resigned Monday following attacked protesters who
weeks of protests demand- had been demonstrating
ing that he and his brother, outside the prime minister’s
the country’s president, official residence for weeks,
step down for dragging the hitting them with wooden
nation into its worst eco- and iron poles. They then
nomic crisis in decades. marched to the presi-
Prime Minister Mahinda Ra- dent’s office, where they
japaksa said on Twitter that attacked protesters there
he submitted his resigna- and set their camps on fire.
tion to President Gotabaya Police fired tear gas and
Rajapaksa, a move that a water cannon, but not
followed a violent attack forcefully enough to con-
by government supporters trol the mob. The attack
on the protesters, prompt- occurred despite a state
ing authorities to deploy of emergency declared by
armed troops in the capi- An injured Sri Lankan Buddhist monk is being carried away who among many other anti- the president Friday that
tal, Colombo. government protesters were injured after attacked by government supporters outside prime gave him wide powers for
Four people, including a minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, May 9, 2022. riot control.
ruling party lawmaker, died Associated Press Hundreds of armed sol-
in Monday’s violence, po- entrenched at the top of Sri and oil prices and made badly beaten bodies were diers were deployed in the
lice spokesman Nihal Thal- Lankan politics until now. things worse. recovered by police sev- capital, as the protesters
duwa told the Associated The prime minister’s resig- The Sri Lankan government eral hours later, the spokes- accused police of not pre-
Press. President Rajapaksa nation comes as the coun- has been running big bud- man said. venting the attack, despite
imposed a countrywide try’s economy has swiftly get deficits after cutting Three people were hos- using tear gas and water
curfew Monday evening unraveled in recent weeks. taxes in 2019 and struggling pitalized with gunshot cannons on protesters on
lasting until Wednesday Imports of everything from to collect taxes during the wounds from the shots fired Friday.
morning. milk to fuel have plunged, COVID-19 pandemic. It from the lawmaker’s vehi- “Police did not protect us,
For more than a month, spawning dire food short- also has piled up massive cle, he said. therefore we have taken it
protests have spread ages and rolling power foreign debt much of it Separately, in the Rajapak- into our own hands,” said
across the country, draw- cuts. People have been owed to China and has sas’ hometown of Weera- Druvi Jinasena, who was
ing people across ethnici- forced to stand in lines for scant foreign exchange ketiya, a crowd that tried to helping block roads to pro-
ties, religions and class. For hours to buy essentials. reserves to pay for imports set fire to a local politician’s tect the protest site.
the first time middle-class Doctors have warned of and to defend its embat- home was fired upon killing An official at the main hos-
Sri Lankans also took to the crippling shortages of life- tled currency, the rupee. two protesters, he said. pital in Colombo said 173
streets in large numbers, saving drugs in hospitals, Sri Lanka is at the top of a Protesters tried several times people were treated, most
marking a dramatic revolt and the government has list compiled by Liliana Ro- to break into the prime for minor injuries, though 15
by many former Rajapaksa suspended payments on $7 jas-Suarez of the Center for minister’s official residence were seriously injured. The
supporters, some of whom billion in foreign debt due Global Development that Monday night forcing po- official spoke on condi-
have spent weeks protest- this year alone. ranks the countries most ex- lice to fire tear gas. Homes tion of anonymity because
ing outside the president’s President Gotabaya Ra- posed to financial shocks. of government ministers she was not authorized to
office. japaksa initially blamed Sri Those most vulnerable rely and politicians supporting speak to the media.
The protests underscored a Lanka’s economic woes on on commodity imports and the Rajapaksas were also The country’s foreign re-
dramatic fall from favor of global factors like the pan- have low foreign exchange attacked and some set on serves have plummeted
the Rajapaksas, Sri Lanka’s demic battering its tourism reserves compared to what fire. The memorial for the below $50 million and it
most powerful political dy- industry and the Russia- they owe other countries. brothers’ parents was van- owes nearly $25 billion in
nasty for decades. The Ukraine conflict pushing up Monday’s violence trig- dalized. foreign debt for payment
brothers were once hailed global oil prices. But both gered widespread anger, Jayadeva Uyangoda, a by 2026. Its total foreign
as heroes by many of the he and his brother have with people singling out Ra- political scientist in Colom- debt is $51 billion.
island’s Buddhist-Sinhalese since admitted to mistakes japaksa supporters and at- bo, said the prime minister’s Meanwhile, popular an-
majority for ending the that exacerbated the crisis, tacking them in many parts resignation marked a new ger at the Rajapaksa clan
country’s 30-year civil war, including conceding they of the country. chapter in the country’s has only grown, ramping
and despite accusations of should have sought an In- Ruling party lawmaker Am- political crisis. “The prime up pressure on President
war atrocities, were firmly ternational Monetary Fund arakeerthi Athukorale and minister had to resign in dis- Gotabaya Rajapaksa to
bailout sooner. his bodyguard were killed grace after his supporters quit too. “There has been
Sri Lanka has been holding in Nittambuwa, some 30 ki- unleashed such violence,” sustained pressure for the
talks with the IMF to set up a lometers (20 miles) north of he said. last several weeks for the
rescue plan but its progress Colombo after the car they He added that it would be president to resign but he
depends on negotiations were traveling in was inter- difficult for President Got- hasn’t paid much attention
on debt restructuring with cepted by an angry crowd, abaya Rajapaksa to main- to that,” said Bhavani Fon-
creditors. Any long-term the police spokesman said. tain credibility after Mon- seka, a senior researcher at
plan would take at least six Athikorale or his bodyguard day’s violence. the Colombo-based Cen-
months to get underway. had fired gunshots at the But the president has so far ter for Policy Alternatives.
Sri Lanka was in financial protesters, who chased refused to resign and Parlia- “People are furious – and
trouble even before the them and trapped them in- ment must go through a dif- that anger is not going
facebook.com/arubatoday/ Ukraine war drove up food side a building where their ficult process if it attempts away anytime soon.”q