Daily Times

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka’s central bank hiked interest rates by a record 700 basis points Friday as police fired tear gas at hundreds of students protesting over the economic crisis. Severe shortages of food and fuel, alongside lengthy electricity blackouts, have led to weeks of widespread anti-government demonstrations — with calls for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign. The latest protests saw students try to march Friday to the national parliament, and police used water cannons in efforts to disburse the angry crowds. Monks, who had largely rallied the Sinhala-Buddhist majority to elect Rajapaksa at the November 2019 polls, were also seen joining demonstrations in the capital Colombo, where some defiantly stood opposite police wearing gas masks and holding riot shields. Demonstrators nationwide carried placards saying “Gotta go home”, demanding Rajapaksa and his administration step down over the country’s worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.