Sri Lankan police arrested nearly four dozen people after incidents of arson and rioting as hundreds of people tried to storm Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's house on Thursday night. Nearly 50 people were injured in the clashes.
People angry over food shortage, rising prices of essential commodities, long power cuts and endless fuel lines have been protesting for the past many days over their daily struggles. The country is facing one of its severest crisis as it has no foreign exchange to pay for importing food and fuel.
The security forces clamped curfew and fired teargas and water cannons on the protestors in order to bring the situation under control. Many people were found to be shouting "lunatic go home". Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror has published a photo-story on the protests at the Pengiriwatte Road near the private residence of Rajapaksa.
On Friday morning, the President’s media division issued a statement on Friday, saying an organised extremist group among the protesters created a violent situation. It added that this extremist group was armed with iron clubs, sickles and clubs had marched towards the President’s residence causing a riot.
A few families from the island nation's north-west even fled to India unable to cope up with the daily struggle. Others have been calling for Rajapaksa to resign in daily protests.
The farmers too are feeling agitated after the President decided to ban chemical fertilisers in 2021 in order to make the country the world's first organic nation.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's foreign debt continues to mount. The Hindustan Times reported that the nation has to pay nearly $51 billion in foreign debts.
Right now only India has turned up to support the beleaguered government. New Delhi has extended $2.5 billion line of credit (LoC), of which $1 billion LoC was extended just a few days back. These are meant for fuel purchases as well as food and essential commodities.
Sri Lanka is also talking to the International monetary Fund (IMF) for yet another loan to bail it out of its dire crisis. Over the years, it has taken nearly 16 loans from the IMF.
Colombo had turned to China for a $2.5 billion loan, on which Beijing has maintained silence. The communist government has been close to Sri Lanka, particularly the Rajapaksa family, but Beijing has not responded in Sri Lanka's time of need. The government had reached out to the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for restructuring its debt but China is once again non-committal.
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