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  • Soldiers were deployed to petrol stations in Sri Lanka to help quell unrest over fuel shortages.
  • The country is battling its worst economic meltdown since independence, with resulting shortages of essential goods.
  • In addition to fuel, food, cooking gas and other essentials are also in short supply, and angry protesters have taken to the streets.

Colombo – Sri Lanka ordered troops to petrol stations on Tuesday as sporadic protests erupted among the thousands of motorists queueing up daily for scarce fuel.

The South Asian island nation is grappling with its worst economic meltdown since independence in 1948, with rolling electricity blackouts and essential goods such as food and cooking gas also in short supply.

Protests flare in crisis-hit Sri Lanka as gov’t readies for IMF talks
Protesters have tried to storm the Sri Lankan president’s office in Colombo over fuel shortages and spiralling food prices brought about by the worst financial crisis in the island’s modern history.
Authorities said soldiers were deployed after angry crowds blocked a busy street in Colombo and held up traffic for hours because they were unable to buy kerosene oil on Monday.

“Tempers are getting frayed as queues get longer,” a top defence official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The official said:

A decision was made last night to call out soldiers to reinforce the police. This is to discourage any unrest.

Footage of Monday’s incident shared on social media showed a group of angry women blockading a coach carrying tourists to protest shortages of kerosene needed for cooking stoves.

The troop call also follows the stabbing murder of a motorcyclist by another driver after a dispute over his place in a long queue for fuel outside the capital.

Tourism sector throttled

Three elderly people have dropped dead at fuel queues since Saturday, police said, adding that numerous petrol stations saw people camping overnight to wait for diesel and gasoline purchases.

Military officials said soldiers were deployed at pumping stations of the state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp, which accounts for two-thirds of the fuel retail business in the nation of 22 million people.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office announced a summit of all political parties on Wednesday to discuss the economic crisis, but opposition groups said they planned to boycott the meeting.

Angry crowd tries to storm Sri Lanka president’s office
A huge crowd tries to storm the Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office as anger flares over runaway prices brought about by the worst financial crisis in the island’s modern history. Marshalled by the main opposition party, the SJB, the angry crowd surrounded the Presidential Secretariat and clashed with heavily armed police, who pushed back efforts to barge into the building….
Sri Lanka’s financial crisis stems from a critical shortfall of foreign currency, leaving traders unable to finance imports.

The Covid-19 pandemic throttled the island’s tourism sector – a key foreign exchange earner – and remittances from Sri Lankans working overseas have also declined sharply.

Rajapaksa announced last week that the country will seek an IMF bailout.

Shortages have wrought havoc on almost every aspect of daily life, with authorities last week postponing term tests for millions of students because of a lack of paper and ink.

SOURCE:

Long queues, short supply: Sri Lanka deploys troops as fuel shortage sparks protests | News24