Status: 04/04/2022 01:55 a.m
Thousands of people took to the streets in Sri Lanka to protest against rising prices and constant power cuts – despite a curfew. The cabinet drew conclusions from the crisis and resigned as a body.
In the midst of the severe economic crisis in Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s cabinet resigned as a body. All 26 ministers have submitted their resignations, Education Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said after a crisis meeting on Monday night. Rajapaksa and his younger brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, will remain in office, he said.
“All ministers have submitted their resignations so that the president can form a new cabinet,” said Gunawardena. The South Asian country of 22 million people is suffering from severe shortages of essential goods, soaring prices and crippling power outages in the wake of the most painful economic downturn since independence in 1948.
Police cannot prevent protests
There are currently hour-long power outages every day. Food prices have also risen sharply. The corona pandemic has further exacerbated the economic crisis. The country is heavily in debt and desperately needs US dollars to import fuel, gas, food and medicines from abroad. Sri Lanka has asked India and China for help in sourcing food and fuel, and has also asked the International Monetary Fund for financial assistance.
According to the police, thousands of people took to the streets on Sunday to protest against the living conditions – despite a curfew. Police and armed forces could not have stopped most of the nationwide protests. The demonstrators called for the resignation of President Rajapaksa and his government and for new elections. Rajapaksa and the government have failed to resolve the crisis surrounding rising fuel, food and gas prices, sources said. The country’s main opposition party – the United People’s Party – as well as students and trade unions also took part in the protests – despite warnings they could be arrested for violating the curfew.
National emergency and social media lockdown
On Sunday morning, the government blocked all social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to prevent new protests. The ban was lifted on Sunday evening.
After violence during protests in front of his house, President Rajapaksaden declared a national emergency on Saturday. A curfew was later imposed for 36 hours until Monday.
With the declaration of a national emergency, the President has far-reaching security powers. The armed forces also now have powers usually held by the police to arrest and detain people. In the past few weeks, there have been mainly smaller protests across the country.