Colombo: Police in Sri Lanka used tear gas and water cannons Saturday to disperse demonstrators trying to approach the president’s office to demand he resign over the country’s ongoing economic crisis.

The demonstrators were rallying to mark the 50th day of protests in which they have camped outside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office. Police broke up the rally and briefly detained three people before releasing them.

Sri Lanka is nearly bankrupt, having defaulted on its foreign loans, and is battling acute shortages of essential goods like cooking gas, fuel and medicines. People have been forced to wait for hours in long lines to try to buy goods and many still go empty-handed. (Times of India)