Armed troops with sweeping powers to arrest suspects were deployed to Sri Lanka on Saturday, hours after the president declared a state of emergency over escalating protests against him.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency on Friday evening, the day after hundreds of demonstrators attempted to break into his home to protest shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
The Head of State justified his decision by the “protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community”.
Troops with automatic weapons had previously been deployed to control crowds at gas stations and elsewhere, but there were more on Saturday.
In normal times, the army cannot act alone and must content itself with supporting the police, but with a state of emergency, it can intervene alone, in particular to arrest civilians.
The country of 22 million people is facing severe shortages of essential goods, a sharp rise in prices and long power cuts, in its worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948.
Tourism and remittances from the diaspora, vital for the economy, have collapsed during the pandemic and the authorities have imposed a wide ban on imports in an attempt to save foreign currency.
Sporadic attacks
Many economists say the crisis has also been exacerbated by government mismanagement, mounting debt and ill-advised tax cuts.
The moves come ahead of anti-government protests scheduled for Sunday, with social media activists urging people to protest outside their homes.
“Don’t be deterred by tear gas, very soon they will run out of dollars to restock,” urged a publication encouraging people to protest even as police try to break up rallies.
For her part, US Ambassador Julie Chung warned: “Sri Lankans have the right to demonstrate peacefully, it is essential for democratic expression”.
“I am monitoring the situation closely, and I hope the coming days will be marked by restraint from all parties, as well as much-needed economic stability and relief for those who are suffering,” she tweeted.
Travel specialists believe that the state of emergency will dash hopes for a revival in the tourism sector, such a situation usually triggering a rise in insurance rates.
A curfew imposed for a second night on Friday was relaxed at dawn on Saturday.
But, according to a police official, authorities are considering a new national curfew to prevent an escalation in protests that have blocked traffic in several cities.
“Sporadic attacks on the homes of government politicians have been reported,” a security official told AFP, adding that a ruling party parliamentarian received eggs at a public event in the district. central Badulla on Friday.
In the nearby hill station of Nuwara Eliya, protesters chanted anti-Rajapaksa slogans and prevented Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s wife, Shiranthi, from inaugurating an annual flower display.
During the night from Thursday to Friday, hundreds of demonstrators marched towards the home of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to demand his resignation, before the police used tear gas and water cannons.
The mob set fire to two military buses, a police jeep and other vehicles, and threw bricks at the police.
Mr Rajapaksa’s office on Friday accused the protesters of wanting to create an “Arab Spring”.