Sri Lanka’s embattled leader faces biggest street protest

Colombo, Sri Lanka – Sri Lankan protesters occupied the entrance to the president’s office for a fourth day, demanding Gotabaya Rajapaksa resign over the debt-ridden country’s worst economic crisis in memory.

Hundreds of demonstrators weathered heavy rain with raincoats and umbrellas and chanted anti-government slogans.

Some called for the entire Parliament to disband to make way for younger leadership.

The Indian Ocean island nation is on the brink of bankruptcy, saddled with $25 billion in foreign debt — nearly $7 billion of which is due this year alone — and dwindling foreign reserves.

Talks with the International Monetary Fund are expected later this month, and the government had turned to China and India for emergency loans to buy food and fuel.

For months, Sri Lankans have stood in long lines to buy fuel, cooking gas, food, and medicines, most of which come from abroad and are paid for in hard currency.

The fuel shortage has caused rolling power cuts lasting several hours a day. Much of the anger expressed by weeks of growing protests has been directed at the Rajapaksa family, which has been in power for most of the past two decades.

Critics accuse the Rajapaksa brothers of borrowing heavily to finance projects that earn no money, such as a port facility built with Chinese loans.

Tinaz Amit, a PR Professional taking part in the protest, stressed that Sri Lankans protested independently without any political affiliation.

“Why we are here is because Sri Lanka is right now in a huge economic crisis, we don’t have enough reserves, we don’t have enough foreign reserves, our economy is collapsing, most of our factories are shutting down, people don’t have electricity and people don’t have fuel,” she added.

“Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Malays, and burghers are waging this struggle together without any discrimination. Our only objective is to overthrow this Rajapaksa family,” said a young Protestor.