Sri Lanka police fire tear gas at anti-government protesters

By KRISHAN FRANCIS
Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan police have fired tear gas at protesters demanding that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his government resign over the island nation’s worst economic crisis in recent memory. Thousands of protesters carrying Sri Lankan flags rode on the relatively few vehicles on the roads due to an acute fuel shortage, while others rode bicycles and many walked to protest sites in the capital, Colombo, from the suburbs after police lifted an overnight curfew. Protesters blame Rajapaksa for the economic woes and have occupied the entrance to his office for three months. Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said last month that the country’s economy has collapsed.