This was Prime Minister Rajapaksa’s first appearance since protests erupted amid the country’s worst economic crisis.
The Sri Lankan prime minister was amazed at his first public appearance since protests erupted against the country’s worst economic downturn.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was also booed on Sunday by protesters urging his ruling family to resign amid the deteriorating crisis.
As people queue for fuel across the country, staple goods are delivered to stores, and drug shortages and power outages increase, South Asian citizens take to the streets to demand the resignation of Mahinda and his brother, the president. Ready Rajapaksa.
On Sunday, the prime minister visiting one of Anuradhapura’s most sacred Buddhist temples was greeted by dozens of men and women carrying placards and chanting slogans calling for thieves to be banned from the holy city, 200km (90 miles) north. from Colombo, the commercial capital and largest city in Sri Lanka.
“We will bow to you if you give way [as prime minister] and go, ‘cried a man.
Heavily armed security forces were stationed as police moved to clear the way for Rajapaksa’s six-vehicle convoy. Authorities said the prime minister would return to the capital by helicopter.
Several major roads in the country were blocked by people protesting the lack of gas, petrol and diesel for cooking.
The defense ministry said in a statement that the demonstrators were behaving in a “provocative and threatening manner” and violating basic services.
The government imposed a state of emergency, giving the military broad powers to arrest and detain people on Friday after unions brought the country to a standstill in a bid to pressure Rajapaksa to withdraw.
The 72-year-old president has not been seen in public since tens of thousands tried to storm his private residence in Colombo on March 31.
Since April 9, thousands have been camping in front of his office in Colombo.
The Rajapaksa brothers have been accused of leaning towards “divisive ethnonationalism – continuing to suppress the Tamils in the economically depressed north and east, while supporting hate campaigns against Muslims, which first began around 2012,” according to Amnesty International.
Sources say the president may ask his brother Mahinda to step down in a bid to clear the way for a unity government to lead Sri Lanka through the crisis.
But the country’s largest opposition party has already said it will not join any government led by a member of the Rajapaksa clan.
Sri Lanka has been hit by an economic crisis after a coronavirus pandemic cut tourism and remittance incomes.
In April, the country announced that it was failing to meet its $ 51 billion foreign debt obligations, the first time Sri Lanka has missed a default in its history since declaring independence.
Finance Minister Ali Sabri warned last week that the country would have to endure unprecedented economic hardship for at least another two years.
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