The violent crackdown on protesters could jeopardize the heavily indebted country’s negotiations with the IMF.
In Sri Lanka, more than 1,000 soldiers and police invaded and dispersed the main protest camp around the presidential office in the middle of the night. At least eight people were arrested, a police spokesman told DPA on Friday morning. Just hours earlier, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had been sworn in as head of state.
Protesters also called for his resignation from power, deeming Wickremesinghe an ally of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Rajapaksa fled abroad last week in the face of unprecedented mass protests.
Effects on negotiations
The violent crackdown on protesters could disrupt negotiations between the heavily indebted country and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sri Lanka asked for help there, among other places, in the face of the worst economic crisis in decades. Saliya Pieries of the country’s Bar Association said on Friday that the unnecessary use of brute force was not good for Sri Lanka’s international reputation.
India’s southern island state, with its roughly 22 million people, was once considered the new Singapore, a rising country with a growing middle class. People now have to queue at gas stations for days to get gas or diesel. Power goes out regularly. There is no gas for cooking or medicine, and food prices have risen sharply. The highly indebted country does not have the money to import important goods.
The reasons for the crisis are multiple: mismanagement and corruption play a role, but so do the consequences of the corona pandemic, which have hit the important tourism sector particularly hard. Because of the crisis, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets against the political leadership in recent weeks. Many of them also blame the family of former President Rajapaksa, who are part of the country’s power elite.
(APA/dpa)