the country on the verge of chaos

Tuesday, May 10, calm returned to Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, where a curfew is still in place. An imposing security device has been deployed in the streets: the soldiers have been ordered to fire on the rioters and looters. The day before, excesses opposed pro and anti-government demonstrators. The police intervened. The toll is at least eight dead and 200 injured. A few hours earlier, the Prime Minister, and brother of the President, had resigned but this is insufficient in the eyes of the opposition.

This is the most serious crisis experienced in the country since independence in 1948. Originally, it was born because of the problems of shortage in the country: of gas, electricity or fuel but also of food and medicine. Twenty-two million Sri Lankans suffer from it on Tuesday. Sri Lanka is a country on the verge of bankruptcy: over-indebted, it lacks foreign currency to import. The ports are down. The population accuses the Rajapaksa brothers, president and head of government, of being responsible. Deemed corrupt, the authorities made the wrong economic choices. The country previously relied on tourism but with the war in Ukraine, they can no longer rely so much on the Russians, who were their first visitors.