By Ayeshea
Police fired tear gas at demonstrators who were protesting food, fuel and power shortages outside the president's house.
The protesters were accused of setting fire to a bus.
The President blamed the events on extremists.
A foreign exchange crisis has crippled the economy of Sri Lanka.
Public anger has reached a new high due to the lack of fuel and power.
The protest outside the President's house began peacefully, but participants say things turned violent after police fired tear gas and water cannons. A number of people have been taken into custody.
Protesters threw stones at the police.
The demonstrations mark a huge change in popularity for Mr Rajapaksa, who swept into power with a majority win in 2019, promising stability and a strong hand to rule the country.
One of the main reasons for the situation the country has found itself in is the fact that his brothers and nephews occupy several key ministerial portfolios.
Image source, EPAThe president and his ministers are exempt from the power cuts, along with opulent displays of wealth by family members, have increased anger.
One of the island nation's main sources of foreign revenue, tourism, has been blamed for the crisis by the government, along with a series of attacks on churches on Easter Sunday, which resulted in a drop in tourists.
Experts say that the crisis has been going on for a long time.
This is an implosion, an accumulated outcome of what has been building up for a couple of decades and there is no one to take responsibility for it. The present government is directly responsible for the mismanagement of the crisis since they came into power by sheer incompetency, arrogance and of course corruption, according to a political scientist and commentator.
After the end of a civil war in 2009, Sri Lanka made a fundamental mistake in not integrating with the global economy, according to the former deputy central bank governor.
He said that exports which accounted for a third of GDP in 2000 have fallen to 12%.
A refusal by the government to allow the Sri Lankan rupee to depreciate took a huge toll on the country's foreign reserves.
At the end of last year, foreign reserves stood at $8.6 billion, but have since fallen to a level of $2.3 billion.
There is no sustainable flow of foreign exchange for a country that is heavily import-reliant.
Fuel to power vehicles and even generate power are essential items that Sri Lanka no longer has enough dollars to purchase.
The electricity board in the country has imposed power cuts that have grown longer and longer. The power was cut off for 13 hours on Thursday.
Image source, EPAMillions of people have been disrupted by this.
People have had to queue up for hours in the heat to buy items like cooking gas cylinders with sometimes tragic results, while long lines have been reported outside fuel stations.
Over the last few weeks, five elderly people have died.
Across the country, there are shortages of food items and essential medicines.
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