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“Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country for the Maldives on Wednesday, hours before he was due to step down amid widespread protests over his handling of a devastating economic crisis… Protests against the economic crisis have simmered for months and came to a head last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people took over key government buildings in Colombo.” (Reuters)
In May Sri Lanka defaulted on its debt and “the energy minister said the country had run out of money to pay for fuel… Hit hard by the pandemic, rising oil prices and populist tax cuts, Sri Lanka's dire economic situation has led to spiralling inflation and shortages of essential supplies.” (Reuters)
Both sides are highly critical of Sri Lanka’s government for its disastrous policies and authoritarian behavior.