Sri Lankans protest near president’s residence

By KRISHAN FRANCIS
Associated Press

MIRIHANA, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka police fired tear gas and a water canon on thousands of people protesting Thursday near the private residence of the country’s president, demanding his resignation as the Indian Ocean island nation struggles with its worst economic crisis. Police later enforced curfew in several suburban areas of the capital, Colombo because the protests wouldn’t subside. Protestors demonstrated, shouting slogans condemning the long power cuts and shortages of essentials, along the roads leading to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s private residence at Mirihana. A foreign exchange crunch in Sri Lanka has led to a shortage of  fuel and cooking gas, and power cuts now last up to 13 hours a day.