Sri Lanka's PM Mahinda Rajapaksa may resign amid growing economic unrest

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa may step down as early as Sunday as public anger builds against their economic policies, local newspaper Daily Mirror reported. A Sri Lankan official has denied the reports.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa plans to form an interim government including members of the current opposition, according to the newspaper, which didn’t say where it got the information. A proposal has been submitted by the ruling coalition to ensure political stability, it added.

A spokesman for the government didn’t immediately respond to phone calls from Bloomberg News seeking comment in Colombo Sunday. 

Throttles social media, protests as unrest builds

Gotabaya Rajapaksa has over the past week declared Emergency, imposed curfews and sought to throttle social media amid demonstrations calling for his ouster over soaring living costs and a foreign exchange crisis. 

The island nation is undergoing a severe shortage of food and fuel as it runs out of dollars to pay for imports. Inflation has accelerated to almost 19 per cent, the highest in Asia and has played a major part in people taking to the streets.

Rajapaksa’s elder brother Mahinda serves as prime minister and Basil, the youngest, holds the finance portfolio, while the eldest Chamal controls the agriculture ministry and nephew Namal is the sports minister. Namal openly criticized the latest curbs involving social media.

Police fire tear gas

Police fired tear gas at hundreds of protesting students a federal lawmaker said, as soldiers manned checkpoints .

Lakshman Kiriella, MP from the second-largest city, Kandy, said police used tear gas to scatter students protesting against the government near the University of Peradeniya.

“These students have come out in defiance of the curfew and police have fired tear gas to disperse them,” said Kiriella, from the opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya party. The university is on the outskirts of Kandy, where the students had been held back by police, he said.