Sri Lanka’s entire cabinet aside from the president and his sibling prime minister resigned from their posts Sunday as the ruling political clan seeks to resolve a mounting economic crisis, with a social media blackout failing to halt another day of anti-government demonstrations.
The South Asian nation is facing severe shortages of food, fuel and other essentials — along with record inflation and crippling power cuts — in its most painful downturn since independence from Britain in 1948.
All 26 ministers in the cabinet aside from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his elder brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa submitted letters of resignation at a late-night meeting, education minister Dinesh Gunawardena told reporters.
The move clears the way for the president to appoint a new cabinet on Monday — and some of those stepping down may be reappointed.
It came with the country under a state of emergency imposed after a crowd attempted to storm the president’s home in the capital Colombo, and a nationwide curfew in effect until Monday morning.
Government coalition parties are demanding that a caretaker Cabinet be appointed to pull the country out of the crisis.
The actions appear to be efforts to pacify the people, who are protesting countrywide to hold the president and the entire Rajapaksa family responsible.
Sri Lanka’s political power is concentrated in the Rajapaksa family. In addition to brothers being president and prime minister, two other brothers are ministers of finance and irrigation. Namal was also a Cabinet minister until he resigned.
On Sunday, Sri Lankan professionals, students and even mothers with small children defied an emergency decree and curfew to demand the president’s resignation.
Police fired tear gas and water canons at hundreds of university students who were trying to break through barricades near the town of Kandy in the tea growing region. Near Colombo, students demonstrated and dispersed while armed soldiers and police stopped opposition lawmakers from marching to the iconic Independence Square.
“This is unconstitutional,” opposition leader Sajith Premadasa told the troops who blocked their path. “You are violating the law. Please think of the people who are suffering. Why are you protecting a government like this?”
For several months, Sri Lankans have endured long lines to buy fuel, foods and medicines, most of which comes from abroad and is paid for in hard currency. The first to disappear from shops was milk powder and cooking gas, followed by a fuel shortage disrupting transport and causing rolling power cuts lasting several hours a day at the end of February.
The extent of the crisis became clear when Sri Lanka couldn’t pay for imports of basic supplies because of its huge debts and dwindling foreign reserves. The country’s usable foreign reserves are said to be less that $400 million, according to experts, and it has nearly $7 billion in foreign debt obligations for this year alone.
Rajapaksa last month said his government was in talks with the International Monetary Fund and turned to China and India for loans while he appealed to people to limit the use of fuel and electricity and “extend their support to the country.”
As protests grew and calls increased for him to step down, Rajapaksa doubled down and at midnight Friday assumed emergency powers by decree. The government also declared a countrywide curfew until Monday morning.
It did little to quell the anger of thousands, many first-time protesters, who felt fed up and exhausted by the crisis.
“In this country it is so difficult,” said Inoma Fazil, a fashion designer who brought her 18-month-old daughter to a protest in Rajagiriya, a Colombo suburb. “We don’t want to leave the country and go, and we want to give our child a good future, but everyone is stealing our money. So we came here for her and the rest of the children.”
A couple joined the same rally straight from the hospital with their newborn, and were greeted with cheers by the protesters who sang Sri Lanka’s national anthem, waved flags and placards.
While public resentment is mostly on the Rajapaksa family, anger was also directed at politicians in general and a decades-long system that many feel has betrayed them.
At the Colombo rally, protesters turned back an opposition lawmaker, calling out “no politicians!”
“The main purpose of the curfew is to quell dissent against the government,” said Christopher Stephen, a construction businessman who held placards in the main road near his home.
Stephen said he and his circle of friends and acquaintances had protested every day since early March, and he was excited that more people were joining in.
“What the Rajapaksas have been doing all these years was to divide the people along ethnic and religious lines. But this has united all Sri Lankans — Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers — all want them out,” Stephen said, referring to the president and his powerful family.
Aman Ashraff, an advertising professional who was protesting in his neighborhood, said Sri Lanka has squandered the opportunity to optimize its potential after ending a decades-long civil war in 2009 because of misgovernance.
“This is the turn for the people to rise up and show that they are not going to tolerate the sort of corruption, the sort of greed and the sort of self-centered governance any further,” he said.
On Sunday, authorities blocked access for nearly 15 hours to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp and other social media platforms that were used to organize protests.
The emergency declaration by Rajapaksa gives him wide powers to preserve public order, suppress mutiny, riot or civil disturbances or for the maintenance of essential supplies. Under the decree, the president can authorize detentions, seizure of property and search of premises. He can also change or suspend any law except the constitution.
The European Union urged Sri Lanka’s government to safeguard the “democratic rights of all concerns, including right to free assembly and dissent, which has to be peaceful.”
U.S. Ambassador Julie Chung said “Sri Lankans have a right to protest peacefully — essential for democratic expression.”
“I am watching the situation closely and hope the coming days bring restraint from all sides, as well as much needed economic stability and relief for those suffering,” she said in a tweet on Saturday.
