First protest death fuels calls to oust Sri Lanka president

Bloomberg

The first fatality after weeks of protests in Sri Lanka over food and fuel shortages intensified calls for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign, with a key opposition leader saying Rajapaksa was “responsible for every death.”
Officers fired live rounds in the central Rambukkana area after tear gas failed to dispel a group of protesters who had blocked a train track and tried to set fire to a diesel truck, the police media unit in capital Colombo said by phone. One person was killed in the clash, according to Agence France-Presse and several local media outlets.
Those injured, including police officers, were taken to the nearby Kegalle hospital, the police media unit said, adding that an indefinite curfew has been imposed
in the area. Demonstrators pelted police with stones.
“Resign now!” said Harsha de Silva, a lawmaker from the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya party in a Twitter post directed at the president. As head of state, “you are responsible for every death.”
Sri Lanka’s economic crisis — the worst since it gained independence more than 70 years ago — has brought angry citizens to
the streets demanding the ouster of the Rajapaksa
family. The government is now seeking as much as
$4 billion in emergency aid this year to help the island nation ease hourslong power cuts, shorten fuel lines that go on for miles, and pay for imports of lifesaving drugs and food.