Sri Lanka lifts social media gag as students defy curfew to protest against inflation, power cuts
Sri Lankan army soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint amid curfew
After facing flak, Sri Lanka on Sunday lifted all restrictions placed on social media platforms ahead of a planned anti-government protest against the worsening economic crisis that is marked by rising inflation and scarcity of essential items.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger were restored after 15 hours, according to PTI news agency which quoted a government official.
The 15-hour social media gag, which was aimed at preventing protests in Colombo, failed to deter the agitators as the users switched to VPN to voice displeasure over the move.
Within hours after the ban, the suers started trending anti-government hashtags in Facebook and Twitter.
Notably, Sri Lanka’s sports minister and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s nephew, Namal Rajapaksa slammed the move, saying that the availability of VPN makes such bans completely useless.
In a tweet, the minister also urged the government to think more progressively and reconsider this decision.
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“I will never condone the blocking of social media. The availability of VPN, just like I’m using now, makes such bans completely useless,” tweeted Namal.
However, despite the social media gagging and 36-hour-curfew, hundreds of people, especially the students, turned to the streets to protest against the Rajapaksa government.
Armed soldiers were called in to thwart an attempt by a crowd of hundreds of protesters to march to Independence Square in the capital Colombo.
Lakshman Kiriella, MP from the second-largest city, Kandy, accused the police of using tear gas to disperse the protesting students near the University of Peradeniya, reports Reuters news agency.
"These students have come out in defiance of the curfew and police have fired tear gas to disperse them," Kiriella, from the opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya party, was quoted as saying.
The university is on the outskirts of Kandy, where the students had been held back by police, he said.
On Friday, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency in the wake of acute shortage of essential items, rising prising and power cuts.
The curfew exists till Monday morning.
The island nation is grappling with its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.
The current crisis is the result of economic mismanagement by successive governments and has been accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hit tourism and remittances.
The government has said it is seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund and loans from India and China.
New Delhirecently announced that it will extend a USD 1 billion line of credit to Colomboas part of its financial assistance to the country to deal with the economic crisis following a previous $500 billion line of credit (LoC) in February to help it purchase petroleum products.