Lagatar24 Desk
Colombo, April 6: The speaker of parliament warned on Wednesday that Sri Lanka’s catastrophic economic crisis threatened hunger across the island nation of 22 million people, while acute shortages and blackouts will worsen.
Food and gasoline shortages, as well as record prices and blackouts, have wreaked havoc on the country’s most painful slump since its 1948 independence from Britain. Crowds have attempted to storm the homes of various government officials, including President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and major rallies have taken place elsewhere.
More difficulties, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana warned parliamentarians, were on the way.
“We are told this is the worst crisis, but I think this is just the beginning,” Abeywardana said at the start of a two-day debate on the worsening economic woes.
Security personnel used tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators, but the president’s state of emergency, issued last week to quash rallies, was removed at midnight.
Over 60 people had been arrested in connection with the unrest, and several of them have claimed that they were tortured while in police custody. Legislators pushed for a debate on the emergency order at this week’s session of parliament, where the government lost its majority after political allies deserted, with several calling for Rajapaksa’s resignation.
After practically the entire cabinet resigned late Sunday, opposition groups had previously rejected the president’s proposal to create a unity government.
