As a result of violent protests outside of Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's home, a nationwide state of emergency was declared and went into effect on April 1st. Under the new state of emergency order, authorities are allowed to arrest and imprision suspects without any warrants needed. The violent protests took place on Thursday and followed weeks of peaceful protests over the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. It was reported that at least two dozen police were injured during the protest and it is unknown how many protesters were hurt. After the protests, the President made a statement claiming that "organized extremists" incited protesters leading to the riot, while the minister for community police forces called this an act of terrorism. The protests took place because currently in Sri Lanka there is a foreign exchange crisis that has devalued their currency, which has lead to supply issues for goods like food, medicine, and fuel. As a result of this, people have had to queue for basic goods and there have been hours-long power blackouts.
By: Madelyn Milowski
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/01/asia/sri-lanka-state-of-emergency-protests-intl-hnk/index.html
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