COLOMBO: A state of emergency has been declared in Sri Lanka against the backdrop of anti-government protests gaining strength day by day. The state of emergency will be in place from midnight today. The session of Parliament has been adjourned till the 17th of this month.

Student organizations and the opposition in Sri Lanka have intensified their protests against the government in recent days. The government declared a state of emergency by foreseeing the possibility of protests intensifying and escalating into violence in the coming days.

The people of the country are agitating for the government to take responsibility for the biggest financial crisis of the last ten years. The foreign reserves under the Gotabaya government dropped below $50 million,

Following this, thousands of shops, schools and businesses remained closed on Friday as public and private sector workers in Sri Lanka went on strike, demanding the president and the government step down for their mishandling of the island's worst financial crisis in decades.