Sri Lankan police fired tear gas and water cannon on students trying to march on the President's House in Colombo on Friday ahead of a planned weekend rally, as public discontent escalates over the worst economic crisis in seven decades.
The island nation has been crippled by a shortage of foreign exchange that has left it struggling to pay for essential imports of fuel, food and medicine. Its 22 million people have been bearing the brunt of record inflation, currency depreciation and rolling power cuts for months.
Many blame President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the swift slide in living conditions, the worst since independence in 1948, which has sparked widespread protests that have sometimes turned violent.
