Amid Escalating Unrest, Sri Lanka Imposes Nine-Hour Nationwide Curfew: Report

Local media reports said that the curfew will come to effect from 8 pm on Monday and continue till 5 am on Tuesday

Sri Lankans block an intersection demanding cooking gas cylinders in Colombo on 7 May. Image used for representation only.

(Photo: PTI)

Amid escalating unrest, the government in Sri Lanka on Monday, 16 May, imposed a nine-hour long curfew in the nation.

Local media reports suggested that the curfew will start from 8 pm on Monday and continue till 5am on Tuesday.

This comes just a day after authorities in the island nation said that they had arrested more than 200 people for damaging public and private properties, violating curfew, attacking public, besides other reasons.

Since the past several weeks, Sri Lanka has been going through an economic meltdown of a scale unseen since the country's financial crisis of 1948. Prices of essential commodities like rice, milk, and oil have skyrocketed, resulting in massive nationwide protests and political instability.

The Lankan authorities are reportedly putting in all efforts to bring the deteriorated law and order situation in the country under control

Ranil Wickremesinghe, the new Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on Sunday, tweeted saying he will provide a full explanation of the financial crisis faced by the country on Monday.

"There is a lot to be done and undone. We are prioritising matters, rest assured they shall be addressed as early as possible. We have managed to get things moving in the last 48 hours. I will provide a full explanation of the financial crisis faced by the country tomorrow (16)," he said, in a Twitter thread.

Background

Sri Lanka President Gotabaya had declared a state of emergency in the country from 7 May onwards, giving security forces sweeping powers amid anti-government protests. This marked the second time in five weeks that an emergency was declared in the country.

The economic crisis in Sri Lanka has pushed citizens to hit the streets and protest against the ruling dispensation. Thousands of people, calling for political change and demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa are protesting in Colombo.

As a response to this, President Rajapaksa had imposed emergency across the country on 11 April for a period of five days. The government reimposed emergency once again on 6 May, after protests went violent in front of the parliament. The month-long ongoing protest across Sri Lanka also forced President Gotabaya's brother Mahinda Rajapaksa to resign as the prime minister.

Last week, Wickremesinghe, the 73-year-old leader of the United National Party, was sworn in as the island nation's new Prime Minister.