‘First in four decades’: Why Sri Lanka general strike matters

Trade unions protest during a nationwide strike demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his cabinet, blaming them for creating the country's worst economic crisis in decades, in front of the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 28, 2022 [Dinuka Liyanawatte / Reuters]

Colombo, Sri Lanka – Millions of Sri Lankan workers held a nationwide general strike on Thursday to demand the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the government controlled by his powerful family amid the island’s worst economic crisis in history.

Banks were closed, businesses shut and public transportation halted as nearly 1,000 trade unions across the island nation organised the strike, with workers from both public and private sectors attending.