General Strike cripples Sri Lanka as president faces new pressure
Thursday's general strike was the first time since recent anti-government protests began that the entire country had been brought to a standstill
(AFP/ISHARA S. KODIKARA)
Amal JAYASINGHE
Thu, April 28, 2022,
Millions of workers staged a crippling strike in Sri Lanka on Thursday, adding to pressure on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his ruling family to quit over the country's worst-ever economic crisis.
The island nation of 22 million people has been hit by months of acute shortages of food, fuel and medicines, prompting widespread protests.
But Thursday's nationwide strike was the first time the entire country had been brought to a standstill since the demonstrations began, with both state and private sector employees taking part.
Public transport was stopped, teachers quit school while shops and offices closed, police and regional officials said.
Rajapaksa invited leaders of his party to discuss the crisis on Friday, but former coalition partner the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) said they will not attend and instead told him to step down.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya's elder brother and a former two-term president, has said he is confident he will not be fired over the crisis.
In Colombo's main commercial area of Pettah, wholesale trading shops were shut and workers joined a march chanting: "Go home Gota. Go home Gota," referring to the president.
More than 100 trade unions, some even affiliated with the Rajapaksas' ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party, joined the general strike, demanding the president, prime minister and other senior officials resign.
"Today is like a public holiday in the country," a police official monitoring the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP. "Hospitals are treating only emergency cases."
Across the nation, vegetable markets were closed, while tea plantations, a main export earner, were also shut, residents and local media said.
Tens of thousands of workers in the country's free trade zones came out of their factories and staged protests demanding the powerful Rajapaksa family step down.
Most banks were closed while a few provided reduced hours of service.
On the brighter side, a daily power cut that has become a feature of the crisis was not implemented Thursday as electricity employees took part in the work stoppage.
The main international airport operated without interruption, officials said. Trade union leaders said they ensured the airport functioned normally as an essential service.
- Deadline to resign -
By afternoon, shops across the country had closed in solidarity with the trade unions, local television reported.
Union leader Ravi Kumudesh said Thursday's action was a success and issued a one-week deadline to Rajapaksa to step down or face a continuous strike.
"What we are asking the Rajapaksa family is to go within a week," Kumudesh said in a statement. "If they don't we are ready to launch another island-wide strike until they leave."
The country's economic crisis took hold after the coronavirus pandemic hammered income from tourism and remittances from Sri Lankans abroad. Protesters also blame the Rajapaksa clan for years of mismanagement.
The government has defaulted on its $51 billion external debt and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for an emergency bailout.
Unable to pay for fuel imports, utilities have imposed daily blackouts to ration electricity, while long lines of people snake around service stations for diesel, petrol and kerosene.
Hospitals are short of vital medicines and the government has appealed to citizens abroad for donations.
Thousands of demonstrators have been camped for weeks outside the president's seafront office calling on him to resign.
aj/stu/axn
Amal JAYASINGHE
Thu, April 28, 2022,
Millions of workers staged a crippling strike in Sri Lanka on Thursday, adding to pressure on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his ruling family to quit over the country's worst-ever economic crisis.
The island nation of 22 million people has been hit by months of acute shortages of food, fuel and medicines, prompting widespread protests.
But Thursday's nationwide strike was the first time the entire country had been brought to a standstill since the demonstrations began, with both state and private sector employees taking part.
Public transport was stopped, teachers quit school while shops and offices closed, police and regional officials said.
Rajapaksa invited leaders of his party to discuss the crisis on Friday, but former coalition partner the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) said they will not attend and instead told him to step down.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya's elder brother and a former two-term president, has said he is confident he will not be fired over the crisis.
In Colombo's main commercial area of Pettah, wholesale trading shops were shut and workers joined a march chanting: "Go home Gota. Go home Gota," referring to the president.
More than 100 trade unions, some even affiliated with the Rajapaksas' ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party, joined the general strike, demanding the president, prime minister and other senior officials resign.
"Today is like a public holiday in the country," a police official monitoring the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP. "Hospitals are treating only emergency cases."
Across the nation, vegetable markets were closed, while tea plantations, a main export earner, were also shut, residents and local media said.
Tens of thousands of workers in the country's free trade zones came out of their factories and staged protests demanding the powerful Rajapaksa family step down.
Most banks were closed while a few provided reduced hours of service.
On the brighter side, a daily power cut that has become a feature of the crisis was not implemented Thursday as electricity employees took part in the work stoppage.
The main international airport operated without interruption, officials said. Trade union leaders said they ensured the airport functioned normally as an essential service.
- Deadline to resign -
By afternoon, shops across the country had closed in solidarity with the trade unions, local television reported.
Union leader Ravi Kumudesh said Thursday's action was a success and issued a one-week deadline to Rajapaksa to step down or face a continuous strike.
"What we are asking the Rajapaksa family is to go within a week," Kumudesh said in a statement. "If they don't we are ready to launch another island-wide strike until they leave."
The country's economic crisis took hold after the coronavirus pandemic hammered income from tourism and remittances from Sri Lankans abroad. Protesters also blame the Rajapaksa clan for years of mismanagement.
The government has defaulted on its $51 billion external debt and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for an emergency bailout.
Unable to pay for fuel imports, utilities have imposed daily blackouts to ration electricity, while long lines of people snake around service stations for diesel, petrol and kerosene.
Hospitals are short of vital medicines and the government has appealed to citizens abroad for donations.
Thousands of demonstrators have been camped for weeks outside the president's seafront office calling on him to resign.
aj/stu/axn
Sri Lanka Crisis: Workers to go on strike to pressure government to resign
© Provided by Free Press Journal
Over 1,000 trade unions in Sri Lanka across multiple sectors have planned a massive island-wide one-day token strike for Thursday in support of the ongoing wave of protests against the government, a spokesman for a union alliance said.
Convenor of the collective of unions Ravi Kumudesh told reporters that the campaign aims to pressure the government to resign.
Unions representing ports, railway, petroleum, health, banking and education sectors will take part in the strike, he said.
Kumudesh said about 50 percent of hospitals and employees will also join the strike without disrupting hospital services. Health workers on duty are to be dressed in black and engaged in emergency services. He also said that the hospital workers would go on strike for two hours from 12.00 noon to 2.00 pm.
Protests and marches will be held in front of all hospitals from 12.00 noon today and protests have also been organized in cities across the country.
Sri Lanka is on the verge of bankruptcy with huge foreign debts and a shortage of foreign currency, causing shortages of imported essential goods like fuel and food.
Protesters who have crowded the streets since March 31 hold President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his powerful family responsible. Government officials have blamed Russia’s war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic for the crisis and say they have been discussing rescue plans and loan repayment with the International Monetary Fund, Chinese officials and others.
Protestors around the country demand that both the president and prime minister resign.
“The general public is protesting asking the government to go home,” said Kumudesh.
“President Rajapksa, due to his incompetence, ego and ignorance, has dragged the citizens of this country into a hole they’re struggling to get out of,” he said.
Over 1,000 unions will join the token strike planned for tomorrow to extend support to public protests, said Kumudesh.
“So far, no union has gone against the ongoing protests. On Thursday, all the worker forces in this country will protest against the government. We will raise black flags and all essential services will be carried out dressed in black,” he said.
“We ask the government to not to escalate this union strike to a continuous protest and leave for good,” he added.
Kumudesh said the organisation plans to expand the protest into a hartal on May 06 if the government does not listen to the public demand and step down.
Sri Lanka earlier suspended repayment on its foreign debts, $7 billion of which was due this year.
It has foreign reserves of less than $1 billion, depleting available foreign currency. The resulting shortages of imported essentials like fuel, cooking gas, medicine and milk left people standing in lines for hours to buy limited stock.
The whole Cabinet except the president and prime minister resigned in early April, and the president invited opposition parties for a unity government. But opposition parties refused to be part of a government headed by the Rajapaksas.
Their family have dominated nearly every aspect of life in Sri Lanka for most of the last 20 years.
The opposition is divided and weak and has been unable to show a majority and take control of Parliament.
Sri Lanka workers go on strike to pressure president to step down© Provided by Free Press Journal
Over 1,000 trade unions in Sri Lanka across multiple sectors have planned a massive island-wide one-day token strike for Thursday in support of the ongoing wave of protests against the government, a spokesman for a union alliance said.
Convenor of the collective of unions Ravi Kumudesh told reporters that the campaign aims to pressure the government to resign.
Unions representing ports, railway, petroleum, health, banking and education sectors will take part in the strike, he said.
Kumudesh said about 50 percent of hospitals and employees will also join the strike without disrupting hospital services. Health workers on duty are to be dressed in black and engaged in emergency services. He also said that the hospital workers would go on strike for two hours from 12.00 noon to 2.00 pm.
Protests and marches will be held in front of all hospitals from 12.00 noon today and protests have also been organized in cities across the country.
Sri Lanka is on the verge of bankruptcy with huge foreign debts and a shortage of foreign currency, causing shortages of imported essential goods like fuel and food.
Protesters who have crowded the streets since March 31 hold President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his powerful family responsible. Government officials have blamed Russia’s war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic for the crisis and say they have been discussing rescue plans and loan repayment with the International Monetary Fund, Chinese officials and others.
Protestors around the country demand that both the president and prime minister resign.
“The general public is protesting asking the government to go home,” said Kumudesh.
“President Rajapksa, due to his incompetence, ego and ignorance, has dragged the citizens of this country into a hole they’re struggling to get out of,” he said.
Over 1,000 unions will join the token strike planned for tomorrow to extend support to public protests, said Kumudesh.
“So far, no union has gone against the ongoing protests. On Thursday, all the worker forces in this country will protest against the government. We will raise black flags and all essential services will be carried out dressed in black,” he said.
“We ask the government to not to escalate this union strike to a continuous protest and leave for good,” he added.
Kumudesh said the organisation plans to expand the protest into a hartal on May 06 if the government does not listen to the public demand and step down.
Sri Lanka earlier suspended repayment on its foreign debts, $7 billion of which was due this year.
It has foreign reserves of less than $1 billion, depleting available foreign currency. The resulting shortages of imported essentials like fuel, cooking gas, medicine and milk left people standing in lines for hours to buy limited stock.
The whole Cabinet except the president and prime minister resigned in early April, and the president invited opposition parties for a unity government. But opposition parties refused to be part of a government headed by the Rajapaksas.
Their family have dominated nearly every aspect of life in Sri Lanka for most of the last 20 years.
The opposition is divided and weak and has been unable to show a majority and take control of Parliament.
Workers strike to pressure Sri Lankan president to step down
KRISHAN FRANCIS,
KRISHAN FRANCIS,
Associated Press
April 28, 2022
April 28, 2022
Young Sri Lankan Muslim traders hold placards demanding president Gotabaya Rajapaksa resign at a closed down business street during a country wide strike in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, April 28, 2022. Businesses were closed, teachers absent and public transportation interrupted as Sri Lankans heeded a call for a general strike Thursday to pressure the president to step down over a growing economic and political crisis.
Eranga Jayawardena/AP
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Businesses were closed, teachers absent and public transportation interrupted as Sri Lankans heeded a call for a general strike Thursday to pressure the president to step down over a growing economic and political crisis.
Business districts in the capital, Colombo, were closed, and bankers, teachers and other professionals held parades and joined the main protest site opposite the president’s office where demonstrators have gathered for weeks. Doctors and nurses have said they will support the strike with demonstrations during their lunch break.
Sri Lanka is on the verge of bankruptcy with huge foreign debts and a lack of foreign currency, causing shortages of imported essential goods like fuel and food.
Protesters who have crowded the streets since March 31 hold President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family — who have dominated nearly every aspect of life in Sri Lanka for most of the last 20 years — responsible for the crisis.
Sri Lanka earlier suspended repayment on its foreign debts, $7 billion of which was due this year. It has foreign reserves of less than $1 billion, depleting available foreign currency. The resulting shortages of imported essentials like fuel, cooking gas, medicine and milk left people standing in lines for hours to buy limited stock.
Government officials have blamed Russia’s war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic for the debt crisis and say they have been discussing rescue plans and loan repayment with the International Monetary Fund, Chinese officials and others.
Rajapaksa reshuffled his Cabinet and offered a unity government in an attempt to quell protests, but opposition parties refused to be part of a government headed by the Rajapaksa brothers. The weak, divided opposition has been unable to show a majority and take control of Parliament on its own.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Businesses were closed, teachers absent and public transportation interrupted as Sri Lankans heeded a call for a general strike Thursday to pressure the president to step down over a growing economic and political crisis.
Business districts in the capital, Colombo, were closed, and bankers, teachers and other professionals held parades and joined the main protest site opposite the president’s office where demonstrators have gathered for weeks. Doctors and nurses have said they will support the strike with demonstrations during their lunch break.
Sri Lanka is on the verge of bankruptcy with huge foreign debts and a lack of foreign currency, causing shortages of imported essential goods like fuel and food.
Protesters who have crowded the streets since March 31 hold President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family — who have dominated nearly every aspect of life in Sri Lanka for most of the last 20 years — responsible for the crisis.
Sri Lanka earlier suspended repayment on its foreign debts, $7 billion of which was due this year. It has foreign reserves of less than $1 billion, depleting available foreign currency. The resulting shortages of imported essentials like fuel, cooking gas, medicine and milk left people standing in lines for hours to buy limited stock.
Government officials have blamed Russia’s war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic for the debt crisis and say they have been discussing rescue plans and loan repayment with the International Monetary Fund, Chinese officials and others.
Rajapaksa reshuffled his Cabinet and offered a unity government in an attempt to quell protests, but opposition parties refused to be part of a government headed by the Rajapaksa brothers. The weak, divided opposition has been unable to show a majority and take control of Parliament on its own.
Apr 28, 2022 -
Businesses were closed, teachers absent and public transportation interrupted as Sri Lankans heeded a call for a general strike Thursday to pressure the president to step down over a growing economic and political crisis.
Business districts in the capital, Colombo, were closed, and bankers, teachers and other professionals held parades and joined the main protest site opposite the president’s office where demonstrators have gathered for weeks.
Doctors and nurses have said they will support the strike with demonstrations during their lunch break.
Sri Lanka is on the verge of bankruptcy with huge foreign debts and a shortage of foreign currency, causing shortages of imported essential goods like fuel and food.
Protesters who have crowded the streets since March 31 hold President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family — who have dominated nearly every aspect of life in Sri Lanka for most of the last 20 years — responsible for the crisis.
Sri Lanka earlier suspended repayment on its foreign debts, $7 billion of which was due this year. It has foreign reserves of less than $1 billion, depleting available foreign currency. The resulting shortages of imported essentials like fuel, cooking gas, medicine and milk left people standing in lines for hours to buy limited stock.
Government officials have blamed Russia’s war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic for the debt crisis and say they have been discussing rescue plans and loan repayment with the International Monetary Fund, Chinese officials and others.
Rajapaksa reshuffled his Cabinet and offered a unity government in an attempt to quell protests, but opposition parties refused to be part of a government headed by the Rajapaksa brothers.
The weak, divided opposition has been unable to show a majority and take control of Parliament on its own.
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