Colombo/New Delhi:
The police in Sri Lanka for the first time since anti-government protests over an economic crisis started fired at protesters today, killing one and injuring several people. A police spokesperson confirmed they had to fire at the protesters after the mobs turned violent and threw stones at them.
The people had blocked a highway in central Sri Lanka’s Rambukkana, 95 km from capital Colombo, to protest acute oil shortages and high prices.
A severe fuel shortage sparked spontaneous protests across Sri Lanka earlier today, with tens of thousands of angry motorists burning tyres and blocking the major road leading into the capital.
Sri Lanka has run out of dollars to finance vital imports including food, medicine and fuel, sparking weeks of protests calling for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the country’s worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.
The highway where the protest took place connects the central city of Kandy to capital Colombo. It was cut off at multiple stretches as fuel stations across Sri Lanka ran out of petrol and diesel.
