The Sri Lankan private bus owners’ association (LPBOA) has said that despite the strike, bus services have been restricted due to the energy crisis.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The president of the association, Jemunu Wizertne, said that if the energy crisis is not resolved, there is a danger that long-distance bus services will be stopped soon. News from Ceylon Todd.
According to the BBC, AFP and Reuters, the country’s public and private sector workers have gone on strike to demand the resignation of Sri Lanka’s president and government for failing to cope with the worst financial crisis in decades. Due to this, shops, schools and businesses of the country were closed on Friday. Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse anti-government protesters outside the parliament building in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo. Nearly 5,000 protesters gathered in front of the parliament building demanding the resignation of the government in the country’s economic crisis. Thousands of people across the city took part in the protests.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency in response to the protests. Through this, the security forces have been given extensive powers. The state of emergency was declared for the second time in five weeks. It has been in effect since midnight on Friday.
Over the past month, power shortages and severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine have caused widespread suffering in the country of 22 million people. After independence in 1947, such misery was not seen in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung has expressed concern over the state of emergency in Sri Lanka in the face of growing anti-government protests. He said that the peaceful citizens of Sri Lanka need to be listened to. Julie Chung said the Sri Lankans needed a long-term solution to the dilemma they were facing. Emergencies will not help.
