Police fire tear gas, water cannons to quell protests outside PM house

Sri Lankan police fired tear gas and water cannons at some 2000 irate protesters who defied curfew orders and tried to storm Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksas residence in Tangalle on Monday demanding his resignation amid the worst economic crisis in the country Around 2000 people descended near the Prime Ministers residence known as Carlton House in Tangalle situated 200 km south of Colombo and pulled down barricades chanting antiRajapaksa slogansInterestingly Tangalle which has a Sinhalesemajority population is considered to be the bastion of the powerful Rajapaksa clanAccording to eyewitness accounts angry protesters managed to dodge the police and were seen running towards Rajapaksas gates clamouring for his resignationThe governments poor handling of the economic crisis where citizens currently endure long hours of power outages and scarcity of essentials has angered the public that has resulted in planned and sustained countrywide protests since SundayThese protests have prompted the government to declare an emergency and impose a 36hour curfew and a social media banOn Sunday antigovernment protests were staged here in Independence Square protesting President Gotabaya Rajapaksas move to impose a state of emergency and a raft of other restrictions here in Independence Square Protests staged by university students also erupted in the countrys Central Province on Sunday eveningConsequently the current economic turmoil and unrest in the island nation has precipitated a political flux with all 26 Cabinet Ministers submitting their resignationOn Monday Sri Lankan President fired his brother and Finance Minister Basil and invited the Opposition parties to join a unity Cabinet to tackle the raging public anger against the hardships caused due to the countrys worst economic crisisIncidentally Basil had negotiated the Indian economic relief package to help Sri Lanka tackle the current foreign exchange crisisHe has been replaced by Ali Sabry who was until Sunday night the Minister of JusticeBasil was scheduled to leave for the US to meet with the International Monetary Fund for a possible bailout package to get over the unprecedented economic crisisHe was at the centre of anger within the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna coalitionLast month at least two ministers were sacked from the Cabinet as they publicly criticised BasilAfter the resignation of the Cabinet Ministers at least three other new ministers were sworn in G L Peiris has been sworn in as the Foreign Minister while Dinesh Gunawardena is the new Education MinisterJohnston Fernando was appointed the new Minister of HighwaysMeanwhile Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal also announced his resignation on MondayIn the context of all Cabinet ministers resigning I have today submitted my resignation as Governor he said in a tweetCabraal 67 was blamed for his rigid stance on Sri Lanka seeking an economic bailout through an IMF structural adjustment facilitySamagi Jana Balavegaya the principal opposition party on Monday termed this spate of resignations a sham and declined an invitation from the President to form an interim governmentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever