INTERNATIONAL: Sri Lanka’s police used tear gas to disperse protesters in the city of Paradeniya as they demonstrated over a severe economic crisis on Sunday 3rd April, defying a nationwide curfew.

Sri Lanka’s police used tear gas to disperse protesters in the city of Paradeniya as they demonstrated over a severe economic crisis on Sunday (April 3), defying a nationwide curfew.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency on Friday (April 2) as the Indian Ocean island nation grapples with rising prices, shortages of essentials and rolling power cuts. On Saturday, the government implemented a countrywide curfew after protests turned violent.

On Sunday afternoon the government lifted a block it had placed on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp hours earlier.

Critics say the roots of the crisis, the worst in several decades, lie in economic mismanagement by successive governments that amassed huge budget shortfalls and a current account deficit.

The crisis was accelerated by deep tax cuts Rajapaksa promised during the 2019 election campaign and enacted months before the COVID-19 pandemic, which wiped out parts of Sri Lanka's economy.

^{PHOTO: UNIVERSITY STUDENTS PROTESTING / POLICE FIRING WATER CANNONS AND TEAR GAS AT PROTESTERS}