Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declares State of Emergency

India’s neighbor, Sri Lanka

is going through its worst economic crisis. On Friday, the news agency AFP reported that the

President of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa

declared a state of emergency. This eventually provided unconditional power to the security forces for the second time in five weeks in order to manage escalating anti-government protests.

A spokesman for the president said he declared the emergency to "ensure public order" after trade unions held a nationwide strike demanding his resignation over the deteriorating economic condition of the country.

Before the President invoked the state of emergency, trade unions called for a massive and extensive nationwide strike and demanded the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his government. 

Lately, the Government of Sri Lanka has been facing multiple protests around the country with an increasingly agitated public demanding its resignation.

All trade unions of health, postal, port and other government services had joined the strike. Other than this, student activists also gave the warning to protest around the Parliament after trade unions' strike. Many student activists from the Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF) obstructed the main access road to the parliamentary complex on Thursday and held a day-long protest.