Sri Lankan students mob PM’s residence

Thousands of Sri Lankan university students mobbed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s home on Sunday demanding his resignation over the island nation’s worsening economic crisis.

Months of lengthy blackouts, record inflation and acute food and fuel shortages have sparked increasing public discontent in Sri Lanka, which is dealing with its worst economic downturn since independence in 1948.

Sunday’s protest saw student leaders scale the fence of Rajapaksa’s compound in Colombo after police erected barricades on various roads around the capital to stop them from linking up with demonstrators elsewhere.

“You can block the road, but can’t stop our struggle until the entire government goes home,” one unidentified student leader said.

Police said Rajapaksa, the head of Sri Lanka’s ruling clan, was not on the premises at the time and the crowd left peacefully.

For more than two weeks, thousands of protesters have been camped daily outside the seafront office of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa - Mahinda’s younger brother - demanding for the pair to step down.

World Bank readies Sri Lanka aid package

The International Monetary Fund said on Saturday it held “fruitful technical discussions” with Sri Lanka on its loan request, while the World Bank said it was preparing an emergency aid package for the crisisstricken country.

The World Bank’s emergency response package includes $10 million to be made available for the purchase of medicines, funds shifted from its ongoing Covid-19 preparedness project, a World Bank spokesperson said.