In Sri Lanka, opposition parties ended a week-long march to the capital Colombo on May Day with thousands of protesters demanding relief from a devastating economic crisis and calling on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign. For months Sri Lanka has faced dire shortages of food, fuel and medicine amid mounting foreign debt and government corruption. On Friday, President Rajapaksa agreed to remove his older brother as prime minister as part of a plan to form an interim government made up of all parties in Parliament. The leader of Sri Lanka’s main opposition party rejected the plan as insufficient.
Sajith Premadasa: “The country can’t be rescued by making deals with thieves. I would like to tell you all that we have taken a decision not to make any deals with a government of thieves or their partners.”