Sri Lanka nation-wide strike demands president’s resignation News
© WikiMedia (Thushari Pahalage)
Sri Lanka nation-wide strike demands president’s resignation

A nation-wide strike in Sri Lanka Thursday brought the country to a standstill. Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck Sri Lanka, the country has experienced shortages in food, fuel and medicine. The situation has become so dire that the government has requested donations from citizens in other countries.

The crisis has been caused in part by a lack of foreign currency, making it difficult for Sri Lanka to import fuel, medicine or food. The citizens, however, argue the shortages could have been avoided if the Rajapaksa clan had done a better job at managing the country. The government recently defaulted on its $51 billion external debt. Sri Lankan government officials are currently in talks with the International Monetary Fund for an emergency bailout. Because of all of this, those involved in the strike call on the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his government to resign.

Thousands of people upset with the Rajapaksa government have been camped outside of the president’s office for weeks, calling on him to resign. Thursday’s nation-wide strike emphasized just how many people now support the movement.

Trade unions from a number of sectors such as education, health, transport and state service joined the strike on Thursday under the theme “bow to the people—government go home.” The strike caused public transport to stop, school attendance to drop, and shops and offices across the country to close. Even vegetable markets and tea plantations, both major export industries for the country, shut down according to local Sri Lankan newspaper Colombo Page.

The president is scheduled to meet with political leaders on Friday to discuss the nation-wide strike. Despite the fact that the president was forced to drop his older brother Chamal and the eldest nephew Namal from the Cabinet due to previous demonstrations, the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is confident that he will not lose his position. The prime minister claims he and the president are on the same page and shall continue to work together in future, denying any claims of a rift between he and his brother.

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