Sri Lanka Economic Crisis: The Sri Lankan government announced a 36-hour curfew on Saturday ahead of proposed nationwide protests on Sunday over the biggest economic crisis in the country’s history. At the same time, all social media platforms have been banned to stop the protests. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Namal Rajapaksa has condemned the decision of the social media blackout, calling it absurd.
Condemning the decision to ban social media platforms like WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, Namal Rajapakse, Minister of Youth and Sports in the government, tweeted that I will never justify blocking social media. The availability of a VPN makes such restrictions completely useless, like the one I’m using now. I urge the officials to think more progressively and reconsider this decision.
I will never condone the blocking of social media. The availability of VPN, just like I’m using now, makes such bans completely useless. I urge the authorities to think more progressively and reconsider this decision. #SocialMediaBanLK #SriLanka #lka
— Namal Rajapaksa (@RajapaksaNamal) April 3, 2022
Ban on social media platform after emergency
The Sri Lankan government on Sunday banned social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram after declaring a nationwide public emergency and imposing a 36-hour curfew. The move comes ahead of anti-government rallies over the island country’s worst economic crisis ever.
The move is aimed at preventing people from gathering in Colombo to protest against the government’s failure to provide relief to people who are short of food, essential commodities, petrol and diesel and medicines amid hours of power cuts.
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The news said that Sri Lanka’s major network operators Dialog, Sri Lanka Telecom, Mobitel, Hutch are under the purview of this ban. The social media and messaging platforms affected in whole or in part include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, TalkTalk, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram and Facebook Messenger.
There may be a big performance on Sunday
Meanwhile, people in the country are set to protest on Sunday against the government’s failure to deal with the economic crisis. In fact, people are facing power cuts for hours and shortage of essential commodities. Curfew has been imposed to prevent citizens from protesting.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued a special gazette notification late Friday night declaring a state of emergency in Sri Lanka with immediate effect from April 1. The government has also imposed a 36-hour curfew from 6 pm on Saturday to 6 am on Monday (April 4).
Let us tell you that Sri Lanka is facing the worst economic crisis in its history. For the past several weeks, the people of the country have been facing shortage of essential commodities along with standing in long queues for fuel and cooking gas.