Sri Lanka: People should not be made to pay for the crisis.

Sri Lanka protest

As we write protests continue to take place across Sri Lanka the day after protesters defied one of the strongest-ever curfews in place and gathered in many parts of the capital city and across the country on Sunday 3 April 2022. Despite repression and the arrest of hundreds of activists who are now held without charge, many have shown determination to be on the street. The government of the much-hated president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had implemented a state of emergency, banned social media and put military personnel on the street. But many have had enough and repressive measures were not enough to contain the eruption of anger that is taking place. One old man killed himself on Sunday right outside Gotabaya’s house by climbing onto a live transformer. He had demanded an immediate end to the power cuts. A number of opposition parties, including former allies of Gotabaya, were claiming that the government no longer has majority support in parliament. There were reports that there could be a no confidence motion, like the one faced by Prime Minister Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in that country. Khan dismissed the vote as unconstitutional and is likely to call a general election…

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