COLOMBO, Aug 16 (Reuters) – The Chinese survey vessel Yuan Wang 5 docked on Tuesday at Sri Lanka’s Chinese-built port of Hambantota, a port official said, a move likely to stoke concern in neighbouring India about the growing influence of its bigger and more powerful rival.
The movements of the ship have fuelled contention between India and China, two of Sri Lanka’s biggest allies in its current economic crisis, as India fears China could use the port, near the main Asia-Europe shipping route, as a military base.
“The vessel will be berthed for three days,” the official, who declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters from the southern port.
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“The purpose of staying at the port is to stock up on fuel, food and other essentials.”
Hours after the ship docked, a Sri Lankan cabinet spokesman said the island nation was working to ensure there was no friction between friendly countries.
“Even before this, there have been ships from the United States, India and other countries coming to Sri Lanka,” Media Minister Bandula Gunawardana told reporters.
“We have allowed these ships to come. In the same way, we have allowed the Chinese ship to dock.”
Foreign security analysts describe the Yuan Wang 5 as one of China’s latest generation space-tracking ships, used to monitor satellite, rocket and intercontinental ballistic missile launches.
The Pentagon says the Yuan Wang ships are operated by the Strategic Support Force of the People’s Liberation Army.
On Saturday, Sri Lanka said it had agreed the vessel could dock at Hambantota, despite security concerns raised by India and the United States. read more
India has rejected claims that it has put pressure on Sri Lanka to turn the vessel away.
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Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe in Colombo, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Clarence Fernandez
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COLOMBO, July 18 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe gazetted orders late on Sunday for a state of emergency in the crisis-ridden island nation, in an effort to head off unrest ahead of a vote in parliament later this week to elect a new president.
Sri Lanka’s beleaguered leaders have imposed a state of emergency several times since April, when public protests took hold against the government’s handling of a deepening economic crisis and a persistent shortage of essentials.
“It is expedient, so to do, in the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community,” the notification stated.
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Wickremesinghe had announced a state of emergency last week, after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country to escape a popular uprising against his government, but it had not been officially notified or gazetted. read more
Late on Sunday, Wickremesinghe – who was sworn in on July 15 as acting president – declared a fresh state of emergency, the specific legal provisions of which are yet to be announced by the government.
Previous emergency regulations have been used to deploy the military to arrest and detain people, search private property and dampen public protests.
The country’s commercial capital Colombo remained calm on Monday morning, with traffic and pedestrians out on the streets.
Security personel stand guard outside the Parliament building, amid the country’s economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka July 16, 2022. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
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Bhavani Fonseka, senior researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives, said declaring a state of emergency was becoming the government’s default response.
“This has proven ineffective in the past,” Fonseka told Reuters.
Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives and then Singapore last week after hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters came out onto the streets of Colombo a week ago and occupied his official residence and office.
Parliament accepted Rajapaksa’s resignation on Friday, and convened a day later to begin the process of electing a new president, with the vote set for Wednesday.
The crisis-hit nation also received a shipment of fuel arrived to provide some relief amid the crippling shortages.
Wickremesinghe, a six-time prime minister regarded as an ally of Rajapaksa, is one of the top contenders to take on the presidency full-time but protesters also want him gone, leading to the prospect of further unrest should he be elected.
Sajith Premadasa, leader of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party, is another leading candidate, along with Dullas Alahapperuma, a senior ruling party lawmaker who served as the minister of mass media and a cabinet spokesperson. read more
(The story corrects to fix garble in second paragraph)
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Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal, Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
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President Rajapaksa on way to Singapore from Maldives-source
Sri Lanka interim president imposes curfew in Colombo
Protesters to hand back president, prime minister’s residences
COLOMBO, July 14 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s main city, Colombo, was calm on Thursday as people waited for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled to the Maldives to escape a popular uprising that erupted as the country struggled with an economic crisis.
Rajapaksa was on his way to Singapore from the Maldives on Thursday, a Sri Lankan government source said. His decision on Wednesday to make his ally Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the acting president triggered more protests, with demonstrators storming parliament and the premier’s office demanding that he quit too. read more
Rajapaksa had repeatedly assured the speaker of parliament that he would step down on Wednesday, but his resignation letter had not arrived as of Thursday, said an aide to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena.
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The speaker could seek the advice of the attorney general on the next steps if the letter did not come by the end of the day, said the aide, who did not want to be named given the sensitivity of the matter.
Inside the president’s residence, ordinary Sri Lankans wandered the halls, taking in the building’s extensive art collection, luxury cars and swimming pool.
“The fight is not over,” said Terance Rodrigo, a 26-year-old student who said he has been inside the compound since it was taken over by protesters on Saturday along with the prime minister’s official residence.
“We have to make society better than this. The government is not solving people’s problems.”
The usual protest sites, however, were calm and organisers said they would hand the residences back to the government.
“With the president out of the country … holding the captured places holds no symbolic value any more,” Chameera Dedduwage, one of the organisers, told Reuters.
Wickremesinghe, nevertheless, imposed a curfew in Colombo from noon (0630 GMT) to early morning on Friday in a bid to prevent further unrest.
Protests against the economic crisis have simmered for months and came to a head last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people took over government buildings in Colombo, blaming the powerful Rajapaksa family and allies for runaway inflation, shortages of basic goods and corruption.
HOSPITALISATIONS OVERNIGHT
Police said one person was killed and 84 injured in clashes between riot police and protesters on Wednesday near the parliament building and the prime minister’s office, as people demanded the ouster of both Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe.
Police spokesman Nalin Thalduwa said the man who died was a 26-year-old protester who succumbed after he was injured near the prime minister’s office.
The area around parliament was deserted on Thursday morning. Police manned a barricade on the approach road. Nearby, life returned to normal, with shops open and plenty of cars on the road.
The night before, an intersection there was packed with several hundred protesters and ambulances regularly ferried the injured out of the area.
“We want Ranil to go home,” Malik Perera, a 29-year-old rickshaw driver who said he took part in the protests, said on Thursday. “They have sold the country, we want a good person to take over, until then we won’t stop.”
Sitting in a park opposite the entrance to parliament, he showed bruising on his back that he said he received during the clashes.
Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left the main international airport near Colombo on an air force plane early on Wednesday. Maldives media said he was now waiting to fly to Singapore.
Government sources and aides said the president’s brothers, former president and prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, were still in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s parliament is expected to name a new full-time president on July 20, and a top ruling party source told Reuters Wickremesinghe was the party’s first choice, although no decision had been taken. The opposition’s choice is their main leader Sajith Premadasa, the son of a former president.
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Additional reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan and Waruna Karunatilake; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan
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President Rajapaksa flees hours before planned resignation
Protesters demand ouster of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe
Wickremesinghe declares emergency, rolls back soon after
COLOMBO, July 13 (Reuters) – Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on Wednesday,bringing to an apparent end his family’s near two-decade dominance of the country after a massive popular uprising brought on by an economic collapse.
But his decision to leave his ally Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in charge as acting president triggered more demonstrations, with protesters storming the premier’s office demanding that he go too.
Wickremesinghe’s office initially declared a state of emergency and a curfew with immediate effect, then cancelled them but said the measures would be announced again later.
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Reuters Graphics
Police stationed outside the prime minister’s office fired several rounds of tear gas and a military helicopter briefly circled overhead, but protesters appeared undeterred and finally surged into the compound. Wickremesinghe’s team declined to reveal his whereabouts.
“It feels pretty marvellous, people were trying to take this place for about three hours,” said college student Sanchuka Kavinda, 25, standing next to a mangled, open gate of the prime minister’s office. “No matter what, everyone in this crowd will be here until Ranil also steps down.”
In a statement, Wickremesinghe said the protesters “have no reason to storm the prime minister’s office”.
“They want to stop the parliamentary process. But we must respect the Constitution. So security forces have advised me to impose an emergency and a curfew. I’m working to do that.”
On the lower floor of the two-storied, whitewashed colonial-era building, dozens of protesters gathered to sing Sinhala pop songs. In a nearby air-conditioned room, sat a large group of security personnel armed with assault rifles.
Protest organisers and security personnel manned a central wooden staircase at the heart of the building, guiding sightseers to and from the upper floor where the prime minister’s room is located.
At an adjoining room on the top floor, where Reuters interviewed Wickremesinghe a few weeks ago, the plush furniture had been hastily pushed to the corners and a line of armed security personnel ushered visitors through.
Sri Lanka has been run by the powerful Rajapaksa family for the better part of the last two decades. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected as the country’s president in November 2019.
NEW LEADER DUE NEXT WEEK
Parliament is expected to name a new full-time president next week, and a top ruling party source told Reuters Wickremesinghe was the party’s first choice, although no decision had been taken.
An attempt by Wickremesinghe to cling on would infuriate the protesters who say he is a close ally of the Rajapaksa family, which has dominated the country since Rajapaksa’s older brother Mahinda became president in 2005.
Demonstrators gather outside the office of Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, amid the country’s economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka July 13, 2022. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
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“An MP with one seat is appointed as PM. Now the same person is appointed as acting President,” the opposition presidential nominee, Sajith Premadasa, said on Twitter. “This is the Rajapaksa style of democracy. What a farce. What a tragedy.”
The president, his wife and two bodyguards left the main international airport near Colombo aboard an air force plane early on Wednesday, the air force said in a statement.
The parliament speaker, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, said Rajapaksa had phoned him and told him his resignation letter would arrive later on Wednesday.
A government source and a person close to Rajapaksa said he was in Male, the capital of the Maldives. The president would most likely proceed to another Asian country from there, the government source said.
ECONOMIC CRISIS
Protests against the economic crisis have simmered for months and came to a head last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people took over key government buildings in Colombo, blaming the Rajapaksas and their allies for runaway inflation, shortages and corruption. read more
Government sources and aides said the president’s brothers, former president and prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, were still in Sri Lanka.
Wickremesinghe, whose private residence in Colombo was set ablaze on Saturday, had offered to resign as prime minister but did not repeat that offer after he became acting president on Wednesday. If he does go, the speaker would be acting president until a new president is elected on July 20 as scheduled.
Amid the economic and political chaos, Sri Lanka’s sovereign bond prices hit fresh record lows on Wednesday.
The U.S. Embassy in Colombo, which is in the central district of the city, said it was cancelling consular services for the afternoon and for Thursday as a precautionary measure.
The island nation’s tourism-dependent economy was hammered first by the COVID-19 pandemic and then a fall in remittances from overseas Sri Lankans. A ban on chemical fertilisers hit output although the ban was later reversed. read more
The Rajapaksas implemented populist tax cuts in 2019 that hurt government finances, while shrinking foreign reserves curtailed imports of fuel, food and medicines.
Petrol has been severely rationed and long lines have formed in front of shops selling cooking gas. Headline inflation hit 54.6% last month and the central bank has warned that it could rise to 70% in coming months.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, president from 2005-2015 and later prime minister under his brother, resigned in May after protests against the family turned violent. He remained in hiding at a military base in the east of the country for some days before returning to Colombo.
On Tuesday, Sri Lankan immigration officials prevented Basil Rajapaksa, who quit in April as finance minister, from flying out of the country. read more
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Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh and Alasdair Pal; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Krishna N. Das; Editing by Sam Holmes, Shri Navaratnam and Kim Coghill
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
COLOMBO, July 10 (Reuters) – Leaders of Sri Lanka’s protest movement said on Sunday they would occupy the residences of the president and prime minister until they finally quit office, the day after the two men agreed to resign leaving the country in political limbo.
Thousands of protesters stormed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s home and office and the prime minister’s official residence on Saturday, as demonstrations over their inability to overcome a devastating economic crisis erupted into violence.
Rajapaksa will quit on July 13, while Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also said he would step down to allow an all-party interim government to take over, according to the speaker of parliament. read more
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“The president has to resign, the prime minister has to resign and the government has to go,” playwright Ruwanthie de Chickera told a news conference at the main protest site in Colombo.
Flanked by other leaders helping coordinate the movement against the government, she said the crowds would not move out of the official residences of the president and prime minister until then.
Though calm had returned to the streets of Colombo on Sunday, throughout the day curious Sri Lankans roamed through the ransacked presidential palace. Members of the security forces, some with assault rifles, stood outside the compound but did not stop people from going in.
“I’ve never seen a place like this in my life,” 61-year-old handkerchief seller B.M. Chandrawathi, accompanied by her daughter and grandchildren, told Reuters as she tried out a plush sofa in a first-floor bedroom.
“They enjoyed super luxury while we suffered. We were hoodwinked. I wanted my kids and grandkids to see the luxurious lifestyles they were enjoying.”
Nearby, a group of young men lounged on a four-poster bed and others jostled for turns on a treadmill set up in front of large windows overlooking manicured lawns.
ECONOMIC CRISIS
The political chaos could complicate efforts to pull Sri Lanka out of its worst economic crisis in seven decades, triggered by a severe shortage of foreign currency that has stalled imports of essentials such as fuel, food and medicines.
The financial meltdown developed after the COVID-19 pandemic hammered the tourism-reliant economy and slashed remittances from overseas workers.
It has been compounded by large and growing government debt, rising oil prices and a seven-month ban on importing chemical fertilisers last year that devastated agriculture.
People cook in the garden of the Prime Minister’s residence on the following day after demonstrators entered the building, amid the country’s economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka July 10, 2022. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte
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Petrol has been severely rationed and long lines have formed in front of shops selling cooking gas. The government has asked people to work from home and closed schools in an effort to conserve fuel. Headline inflation in the country of 22 million hit 54.6% last month, and the central bank has warned that it could rise to 70% in the coming months.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said any government in power would have to “work quickly to try to identify and implement solutions that will bring back the prospect of long-term economic stability, address the Sri Lankan people’s discontent, which is so powerful and palpable”.
“We would urge the Sri Lankan parliament to approach this with a commitment to the betterment of the country, not any one political party,” he said at a news conference in Bangkok.
India, Sri Lanka’s giant neighbour which has provided support of about $3.8 billion during the crisis, said it was watching events closely.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has been in talks with the government for a possible $3 billion bailout, also said it was monitoring events closely.
“We hope for a resolution of the current situation that will allow for resumption of our dialogue on an IMF-supported programme,” the global lender said in a statement. read more
WHERE IS PRESIDENT RAJAPAKSA?
Rajapaksa has not been seen in public since Friday has not directly said anything about resigning. Wickremesinghe’s office said he would also quit, although neither he nor Rajapaksa could be contacted.
Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said on Saturday Rajapaksa’s decision to step down was taken “to ensure a peaceful handover of power”.
Constitutional experts say if the president and prime minister resign, the next step would be for the speaker to be appointed as acting president and for parliament to vote for a new president within 30 days to complete Rajapaksa’s term.
Frustration with the economic crisis boiled over on Saturday when a huge crowd of protesters surged passed armed guards into the colonial-era presidential palace and took it over. Furniture and artefacts were smashed, and some took the opportunity to frolic in its swimming pool.
They then moved on to the president’s office and the prime minister’s official residence. Late in the evening, protesters set fire to the private home of Wickremesinghe.
Neither Rajapaksa nor Wickremesinghe were in their residences when the buildings were attacked.
About 45 people were brought injured into a main hospital on Saturday, a hospital official said, but there were no reports of deaths in the otherwise peaceful takeovers.
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Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe, Devjyot Ghoshal; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani and Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by William Mallard, Robert Birsel, Edmund Klamann and Alex Richardson
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Government’s top priority is ensuring supply of essentials
To raise taxes and fuel prices within six months
COLOMBO, April 9 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka will need about $3 billion in external assistance in the next six months to help restore supplies of essential items including fuel and medicine, its finance minister told Reuters on Saturday.
The island nation of 22 million people has been hit by prolonged power cuts and shortages which have drawn protesters out on to the streets and put President Gotabaya Rajapaksa under mounting pressure.
“It’s a Herculean task,” Finance Minister Ali Sabry said in his first interview since taking office this week, referring to finding $3 billion in bridge financing as the country readies for negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month.
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The country will look to restructure international sovereign bonds and seek a moratorium on payments, and is confident it can negotiate with bondholders over a $1 billion payment due in July.
“The entire effort is not to go for a hard default,” Sabry said. “We understand the consequences of a hard default.”
J.P. Morgan analysts estimated this week that Sri Lanka’s gross debt servicing would amount to $7 billion this year, with a current account deficit of around $3 billion.
The country has $12.55 billion in outstanding international sovereign bonds, central bank data showed, and foreign reserves of $1.93 billion at the end of March.
“The first priority is to see that we get back to the normal supply channel in terms of fuel, gas, drugs… and thereby electricity so that the people’s uprising can be addressed,” Sabry said.
‘SENSE OF CONFIDENCE’
Anti-government protests have raged across the island for days, with at least one turning violent in the commercial capital of Colombo, in a threat to the country’s lucrative tourism industry.
“We respect your right to protest, but no violence, because it is counterproductive,” Sabry said.
“Our tourism, which was beautifully coming back in February with 140,000 tourists coming in, has been severely affected ever since the demonstrations.”
On Sunday thousands of protesters gathered near the president’s seafront office in Colombo, making it one of the biggest shows of public outrage in recent days.
A large contingent of police and at least one water cannon stood deployed near the site where several protesters held the country’s national flag.
The protesters included dozens of Muslims who sat in the middle of a blockaded road to break their Ramadan fast and others who urged the president to step down with shouts of “Gota (Gotabaya) go home”.
Ali Sabry, newly appointed minister of finance, speaks during an interview with Reuters, amid the country’s economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 9, 2022. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte
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Sabry said he will lead a delegation of Sri Lankan officials to Washington to start talks with the IMF on April 18 and that financial and legal advisers would be selected within 21 days to help the government restructure its international debt.
“Once we go to them, first thing is there is a sense of confidence in the entire international monetary community that we are serious,” he said. “We are transparent, we are willing to engage.”
On Friday, a new central bank governor raised interest rates by an unprecedented 700 basis points in a bid to tame rocketing inflation and stabilise the economy. read more
Sri Lankan authorities will also reach out to rating agencies, Sabry said, as the country looks to regain access to international financial markets after being locked out due to multiple ratings downgrades since 2020.
Sabry said the government will raise taxes and fuel prices within six months and seek to reform loss-making state-owned enterprises.
These measures were among key recommendations in an IMF review of Sri Lanka’s economy released in early March.
“These are very unpopular measures, but these are things we need to do for the country to come out of this,” Sabry said. “The choice is do you do that or do you go down the drain permanently?”
‘FRIEND OF ALL’
Sri Lanka will seek another $500 million credit line from India for fuel, which would suffice for about five weeks, Sabry said.
The government would also look for support from the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and bilateral partners including China, the United States, Britain and countries in the Middle East.
“We know where we are, and the only thing is to fight back,” Sabry said, looking relaxed in a blue T-shirt and jeans. “We have no choice.”
Discussions are ongoing with China on a $1.5 billion credit line, a syndicated loan of up to $1 billion and a request from Sri Lanka’s president in January to restructure some debt.
“Hopefully we will be able to get some relief which would help …until larger infusions come in,” Sabry said.
Beijing and New Delhi have long jostled for influence over the island off India’s southern tip, with the country pulling closer to China under the powerful Rajapaksa family.
But in recent weeks, as the economic crisis deepened, Sri Lanka has leaned heavily on assistance from India.
“We are a neutral country. We are a friend of all,” said Sabry, a lawyer who previously served as Sri Lanka’s justice minister. “So we think that goodwill will come in handy at this point in time.”
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Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal and Uditha Jayasinghe in Colombo; editing by William Mallard and Jason Neely
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COLOMBO, April 3 (Reuters) – Sri Lankan soldiers with assault rifles and police manned checkpoints in Colombo on Sunday as the government blocked social media platforms after imposing a curfew to contain public unrest triggered by the country’s economic crisis.
The latest restrictions come after the government on Saturday implemented a countrywide curfew as protests against the government’s handling of the economic crisis turned violent. The curfew will run till 6 a.m. (0030 GMT) on Monday. read more
“The social media block is temporary and imposed due to special instructions given by the Defence Ministry. It was imposed in the interests of the country and people to maintain calm,” Telecommunications Regulatory Commission Chairman Jayantha de Silva told Reuters.
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Internet monitoring organisation NetBlocks said real-time network data showed that Sri Lanka had imposed a nationwide social media blackout, restricting access to platforms including Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and Instagram as a state of emergency was declared amid widespread protests.
The country’s Minister for Youth and Sports Namal Rajapaksa who is also the nephew of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said in a tweet he would “never condone the blocking of social media”.
“The availability of VPN, just like I’m using now, makes such bans completely useless. I urge the authorities to think more progressively and reconsider this decision.”
President Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency on Friday, raising fears of a crackdown on protests as the country grapples with rising prices, shortages of essentials and rolling power cuts.
Emergency powers in the past have allowed the military to arrest and detain suspects without warrants, but the terms of the current powers are not yet clear.
It has also marked a sharp turnaround in political support for President Rajapaksa, who swept to power in 2019 promising stability.
Around two dozen opposition leaders stopped at police barricades on the way to Independence Square, some shouting “Gota (Gotabaya) Go Home”.
“This is unacceptable,” said opposition leader Eran Wickramaratne leaning over the barricades. “This is a democracy.”
Nihal Thalduwa, a senior superintendent of police, said 664 people who broke curfew rules were arrested by the police in the Western Province, the country’s most populous administrative division which includes Colombo.
Critics say the roots of the crisis, the worst in several decades, lie in economic mismanagement by successive governments that created and sustained a twin deficit – a budget shortfall alongside a current account deficit.
But the current crisis was accelerated by deep tax cuts promised by Rajapaksa during a 2019 election campaign that were enacted months before the COVID-19 pandemic, which wiped out parts of Sri Lanka’s economy.
At Colombo’s Pettah government bus stand, Issuru Saparamadu, a painter, said he was desperately looking for a way to go home to Chilaw, around 70 km away.
With public transport stalled since the curfew, Saparamadu said he spent the night sleeping on the street after working the entire week in Colombo.
“Now I cannot go back. I’m stuck,” he said. “I’m very frustrated.”
Western and Asian diplomats based in Sri Lanka said they were monitoring the situation and expected the government to allow citizens to hold peaceful demonstrations.
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Writing by Rupam Jain; Editing by Jacqueline Wong
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Lawyers urge president to revoke state of emergency
Sri Lankans suffering from lack of fuel, essential items
India rushes to provide food aid
COLOMBO, April 2 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s government imposed a weekend curfew on Saturday, even as hundreds of lawyers urged President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to revoke a state of emergency introduced following unrest over fuel and other shortages in a deep economic crisis.
The government’s information department said a countrywide curfew would run from 6 p.m. (1230 GMT) on Saturday to 6 a.m. (0030 GMT) on Monday.
Rajapaksa introduced a state of emergency on Friday, raising fears of a crackdown on protests. Emergency powers in the past have allowed the military to arrest and detain suspects without warrants, but the terms of the current powers are not yet clear.
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The Indian Ocean island nation of 22 million people is grappling with rolling blackouts for up to 13 hours a day as the government scrambles to secure foreign exchange to pay for fuel and other essential imports. read more .
“People take to the streets when things are impossible,” 68-year-old Colombo shop owner Nishan Ariyapala told Reuters TV. “When people take to the streets the political leaders of the country must act thoughtfully.”
Rajapaksa said the state of emergency was needed to protect public order and maintain essential supplies and services.
Angered by the shortages of fuel and other essential items, hundreds of protesters clashed on Thursday with police and the military outside Rajapaksa’s residence as they called for his ouster and torched several police and army vehicles.
Police arrested 53 people and imposed a curfew in and around Colombo on Friday to contain other sporadic protests.
Shops opened and traffic was normal on Saturday, while police remained stationed at some petrol stations.
‘FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND’
“There has been a failure to understand the aspirations of the people and to empathize with the suffering of the people of the country,” the lawyers, members of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, said in their appeal, adding that freedom of speech and peaceful assembly should be respected.
Reacting to the state of emergency, U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung said: “Sri Lankans have a right to protest peacefully – essential for democratic expression.
“I am watching the situation closely, and hope the coming days bring restraint from all sides, as well as much needed economic stability and relief for those suffering,” she tweeted.
Highlighting the severe shortage of foreign currency, a vessel carrying 5,500 metric tonnes of cooking gas had to leave Sri Lankan waters after Laugfs Gas (LGGL.CM), the company that ordered it, could not procure $4.9 million from local banks to pay for it.
“People are struggling with an acute shortage of cooking gas, but how can we help them when there are no dollars? We are stuck,” Laugfs Gas Chairman W.H.K. Wegapitiya told Reuters.
The ongoing crisis – the result of economic mismanagement by successive governments – has been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hit tourism and remittances.
It has also marked a sharp turnaround in political support for Rajapaksa, who swept to power in 2019 promising stability.
The government has said it is seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund and loans from India and China.
In the first major food aid to the country since Colombo secured a credit line from New Delhi, Indian traders have started loading 40,000 tonnes of rice. read more
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Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe Writing by Rupam Jain
Editing by William Mallard and Mark Potter
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WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) – Major U.S. air carriers warned on Wednesday that plans by wireless carriers to use spectrum for 5G wireless services starting Jan. 5 could disrupt thousands of daily flights and cost air passengers $1.6 billion annually in delays.
AT&T (T.N) and Verizon Communications (VZ.N) must delay the plans to use C-Band spectrum for 5G wireless services, United Airlines (UAL.O) Chief Executive Scott Kirby said following a U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing, saying it could delay, divert or cancel about 4% of daily flights and impact hundreds of thousands of passengers.
“It would be a catastrophic failure of government,” Kirby told reporters.
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The aviation industry and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have raised concerns about potential interference of 5G with sensitive aircraft electronics like radio altimeters
Last week, the FAA issued new airworthiness directives warning that interference from 5G wireless spectrum could result in flight diversions, but did not quantify the impact. read more
“Coming Jan. 5 — unless something changes — we will not be able to use radio altimeters at 40-something of the largest airports in the country,” Kirby said. “It is a certainty. This is not a debate.”
Kirby said it would mean that at major U.S. airports in the event of bad weather, cloud cover or even heavy smog “you could only do visual approaches essentially.”
Trade group Airlines for America (A4A) said Wednesday that if the FAA 5G directive had been in effect in 2019, “approximately 345,000 passenger flights, 32 million passengers, and 5,400 cargo flights would have been impacted in the form of delayed flights, diversions, or cancellations.”
Southwest Airlines’ (LUV.N) chief executive, Gary Kelly, told the Senate hearing that if the FAA directive takes effect it “would be a significant setback” to its operations.
The wireless industry defended the technology.
“The aviation industry’s fearmongering relies on completely discredited information and deliberate distortions of fact,” CTIA, a wireless trade group, said.
It said that 5G operates safely and without causing harmful interference to aviation operations in nearly 40 countries around the world.
The Biden administration is eager to see the issue resolved. White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese met with Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on the issue Wednesday, sources told Reuters. The White House and the Transportation Department did not comment.
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn at the hearing urged airlines to work with the wireless carriers to reach agreement.
Rosenworcel, who did not comment Wednesday, has said she believes the issues can be resolved and spectrum safely used.
In addition to agreeing to delay the commercial launch of C-band wireless service until Jan. 5, AT&T and Verizon in November adopted precautionary measures for six months to limit interference.
Aviation industry groups said they were insufficient to address air safety concerns and have made a counterproposal.
United’s Kirby said the FCC and FAA “need to get in a room and talk to each other and solve the problem,” adding that the issue “cannot be solved on the back of airlines.”
A4A said the FAA directive would “materially disrupt airline operations” and said cargo operators estimate it “would have cost them $400 million annually.”
The group said “the annual impact cost to passengers to be approximately $1.59 billion” of travel delays.
Wireless carriers have shown no interest in further delays to using the spectrum, which the industry paid more than $80 billion to acquire.
The FAA directives order revising airplane and helicopter flight manuals to prohibit some operations requiring radio altimeter data when in the presence of 5G C-Band wireless broadband signals.
The FAA plans to issue further notices to airlines before Jan. 5 offering more detail on the potential interference and is in discussion about which altimeters could be used under the current mitigation plans.
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Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio and Leslie Adler
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
LAHORE, Pakistan, Dec 3 (Reuters) – A mob of factory employees in eastern Pakistan tortured and burned a Sri Lankan manager on Friday over apparent blasphemy in a “horrific” attack that Prime Minister Imran Khan said brought shame on the country.
A police official in the eastern town of Sialkot, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said investigators believed the attackers had accused the manager of blasphemy for tearing down a poster with Islamic holy verses.
“The factory workers tortured the manager,” said provincial government spokesman Hassan Khawar. “A total of 50 people so far have been identified and arrested.”
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Khan condemned the killing and said he was personally overseeing the investigations and that those guilty would be punished.
“The horrific vigilante attack on a factory in Sialkot and the burning alive of Sri Lankan manager is a day of shame for Pakistan,” he said in a message on Twitter.
Television footage showed crowds of hundreds of people in the streets of Sialkot, in the heart of Pakistan’s most heavily industrialised region where much of the country’s export industry is based.
People gather after an attack on a factory in Sialkot, Pakistan December 3, 2021, in this screen grab taken from a video. Reuters TV via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.
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Underlining the shock caused across the political establishment, Pakistan’s powerful military also issued a statement condemning the “cold blooded murder.”
“Such extra judicial vigilantism cannot be condoned at any cost,” the military’s press wing said, adding that the chief of the army staff had ordered full support to the civil administration to bring those responsible to justice.
A Punjab police spokesman said more than 100 arrests had been made including the prime suspect, who he said was seen in videos torturing the Sri Lankan manager and instigating the people against him.
Mob killings over accusations of blasphemy – a crime that can carry the death sentence – have been frequent in Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Friday’s killing came only weeks after days of violent protests by the radical Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan movement, a Sunni Muslim group founded in 2015 to address actions it considers blasphemous to Islam.
Tahir Ashrafi, Khan’s adviser for Interfaith Harmony, condemned the killers in a recorded video statement shared on social media.
“It is a barbaric act and against Islam’s teaching,” he said.
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Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore
Writing by James Mackenzie
Editing by Peter Graff, Nick Macfie and Matthew Lewis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
