Sri Lanka president declares state of emergency amid unrest

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa proclaimed a state of emergency for the second time in five weeks on Friday, giving security forces broad powers in the face of a statewide walkout calling for his resignation.

After unions blamed the president for the extraordinary economic crisis that has sparked weeks of turmoil, the president invoked the severe rules to “maintain public order,” according to a spokesman for the president.

Earlier Friday, police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse students attempting to storm the national parliament demanding Rajapaksa resign.

The emergency gives sweeping powers to security forces to arrest and detain suspects for long periods without judicial supervision.

It also allows the deployment of troops to maintain law and order in addition to police.

“The President used his executive powers to invoke emergency regulations to ensure the maintenance of essential services and public order,” the spokesman said.

He said the laws will go into effect from midnight Friday.

Beleaguered Rajapaksa had declared an earlier state of emergency on April 1, a day after thousands of protesters attempted to storm his private home in the capital. That emergency was allowed to lapse on April 14.

But protests have escalated since then. The new emergency declaration came as thousands of demonstrators remained outside Rajapaksa’s sea-front office, where they have been protesting since April 9, and smaller groups tried to storm homes of other key government politicians.

The 85,000-strong police force has beefed up protection for all lawmakers from the ruling party.

They were, however, overworked and had requested reinforcements from the security forces.