Colombo: Sri Lankan police fired tear gas and water cannons at hundreds of university students during a protest in the central province despite a curfew on Sunday, as demands grew for appointment of an all-party interim government to address the worst economic crisis that has plagued the country.
The government's poor handling of the economic crisis where people currently endure long hours of power outages and scarcity of essentials has angered the public which planned country-wide protests on Sunday.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued a special gazette notification late on Friday night, declaring a public emergency in Sri Lanka with immediate effect from April 1. The government also imposed a 36-hour curfew with effect from 6 pm Saturday to 6 am Monday.
The government ordered internet service providers to restrict social media access, tightening curbs to prevent planned demonstrations calling for President Rajapaksa's ouster over soaring living costs and a foreign exchange crisis. The social media curbs were lifted at nearly 15 hours on Sunday.
Defying curfew orders, lawmakers from Sri Lanka's principal opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya staged an anti-government protest in Colombo against President Rajapaksa's move to impose a state of emergency and other restrictions.
"We will protect democracy in SriLanka, opposition legislator Harsha de Silva said.
The Opposition lawmakers marched towards Colombo's Independence Square, chanting slogans and carrying placards that read: Stop Suppression and Gota go home."
Police officials set up barricades leading up to the Independence Square, which was built to commemorate Sri Lanka's independence in 1948.
In Central Province, hundreds of students from the University of Peradeniya took to streets to protest against the present state of affairs in the country. However, police installed barricades close to the university.
University Students accompanied by their lecturers proceeded towards the Galaha Junction, and tensions boiled over when they attempted to remove the barricades set up by the police, News 1st channel reported.
Police and riot police used water cannons to disperse the crowd and thereafter fired tear gas, it said, adding that the situation is tense in the region.
In Western Province, a total of 664 people were arrested for violating the curfew and trying to stage an anti-government rally.
Opposition lawmakers, led by their leader Sajith Premadasa, had set off on a march towards the iconic Independence Square in Colombo, defying a weekend curfew imposed by the government on Saturday, ahead of the planned protest
for Sunday.