Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa revoked the state of emergency he declared on April 1 with immediate effect late Tuesday, April 5, 2022 night.
The President said he has withdrawn the Emergency Rule Ordinance, which gave security forces broad powers to quell any unrest in the country, in a gazette notification no 2274/10 issued late Tuesday night. In the wake of a wave of protests over the country’s worst economic crisis, President Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency on April 1. The Emergency was declared in response to large-scale protests planned for April 3 against the people’s current economic hardships.
Later, the government imposed a curfew across the entire island. Despite the curfew and state of emergency, protests continued, with senior ruling party figures having their homes surrounded by angry protesters demanding solutions to the economic crisis.
As the agitation became more violent, several people were injured and vehicles were set on fire. After pulling down a steel barricade near the president’s residence, police fired tear gas and water cannons at the protesters. Several people were arrested as a result of the incident, and a curfew was briefly imposed in most parts of Colombo.
Sri Lanka is experiencing a shortage of essential goods such as fuel and cooking gas due to a foreign exchange crisis. Power outages that can last up to 13 hours per day are common. The revocation of the gazette is significant because the ruling coalition appears to have lost its majority in the 225-member Parliament, with over 40 MPs declaring independence.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa defended his actions
The assembly must ratify the emergency approval within two weeks of its taking effect. On Monday, the opposition demanded that the emergency be debated in Parliament before it was approved. The ruling Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP) coalition’s second-largest group had officially informed Gotabaya Rajapaksa that their 14 members would not support the motion.
There was a chance that emergency regulations would not be passed in the assembly if those who declared independence did not vote with the government. Sri Lanka is in the midst of the worst economic crisis in its history. The public has been suffering for weeks due to long lines for fuel, cooking gas, essentials in short supply, and long hours of power outages.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa has defended his government’s actions, claiming that the foreign exchange crisis was not his fault and that the island’s tourism revenue and inward remittances dwindled as a result of the pandemic.