SL prez rules out early polls, vows to crush protests

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday rejected the opposition’s demand for early parliamentary elections and vowed to use the military to crush any future anti-governm -ent protests aimed at regime change. He will not dissolve the parliam -ent until the economic crisis is resolved, he said. Wickremesinghe, who took over after predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka, has a mandate to serve out the rest of Rajapaksa’s term till November 2024.