Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to demand the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and his family members. Hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans took to the streets on Thursday to protest the strike. The whole country became paralyzed. News AFP.
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The island nation of 22 million people has been in economic crisis for months. Colombo is unable to import food, fuel and medicine due to lack of cash. Due to the crisis, even the long lines at the petrol pumps are not getting fuel. The food rich are suffering from hunger. The movement started in the streets a few weeks ago in protest. Later it turned into a movement to overthrow the government.
Thursday was the biggest protest of the commemoration. On this day the country was paralyzed by the strike called by the workers.
According to the protesters, the country is in an economic crisis due to the corruption and wrong policies of the Rajpaks family. Government officials also took part in the strike.
Police and regional officials said public transport was closed. Teachers are out of the classroom. Shops and government institutions are closed.
Rajapaksa has called a meeting on Friday for talks with his coalition leaders. However, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party said it would not attend the meeting. Their demand is the resignation of the government.
Workers and traders took part in the protest, chanting “Go home, resign.” Describing the situation, a police official said, “Today is a public holiday across the country.”
