A demonstration of several hundred people outside the home of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa degenerated Thursday evening in Colombo, the capital, causing at least one serious injury and leading to the imposition of a curfew.
Read alsoThe capital of Sri Lanka under curfew after unrest
It was not immediately known if the police fired live ammunition to disperse the crowd.
The indefinite curfew was proclaimed in the capital as protesters demanded the resignation of the president, accused of being unable to manage the severe economic crisis hitting this Southeast Asian country.
Protesters, who set fire to an army bus and a police vehicle in the president's residential area, used bricks to attack law enforcement.
Official sources told AFP that President Rajapaksa was not at home during the clashes.
"I am not able to go home because our neighborhood is barricaded,"
complained a resident to AFP.
“People are screaming that they want the president and his family to resign”
.
Worst economic crisis
Faced with the worst economic crisis that Sri Lanka has known, the anger of the inhabitants is increasingly palpable, whether in the endless queues at petrol stations or in the candlelight during power cuts.
Seriously short of foreign currency, the island of 22 million people is unable to import vital goods, leading to severe shortages, from medicine to cement.
The protest was organized by unidentified activists, issuing appeals via social media.
Its live broadcast by private television was abruptly interrupted, under pressure from the government, journalists said.
Videos posted on social networks show protesters, men and women, chanting "crazy go home" and demanding the departure of the president's clan.
The anger is aimed at the administration of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a member of a ruling family once loved by much of the country's majority Sinhalese for abruptly ending the ethnic civil war against the Tamil Tigers.
Since then, support for the Rajapaksa clan has collapsed.
A brother of the president, Mahinda, serves as prime minister.
Another, Basil, is in charge of Finance.
He is also surrounded by his brother Chamal, Minister of Agriculture, and his nephew Namal, in charge of Sports.
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