Pallade Veneta - Hundreds storm Sri Lanka president's home as crisis deepens

The island of 22 million people is in the grips of its worst downturn since independence, sparked by an acute lack of foreign currency to pay for even the most essential imports.

Diesel -- the main fuel for buses and commercial vehicles -- was unavailable at stations across the island on Thursday, according to officials and media reports -- crippling public transport.

Outside Rajapaksa's home in Colombo's Mirihana residential quarter, anti-riot squads beat back demonstrators after they blocked the roads for more than two hours.

"I am unable to go home because our area is barricaded," one resident told AFP. "People are shouting for the president and his family to step down."

Official sources told AFP that Rajapaksa was not at home during the protests.

The rally had been called by social media activists who were not immediately identified, but their ire was directed at Rajapaksa and his family.

Videos shared on social media showed men and women shouting "lunatic, lunatic go home" and demanding that all members of the powerful Rajapaksa family step down.

The president's elder brother Mahinda serves as prime minister while the youngest -- Basil -- holds the finance portfolio. The eldest brother Chamal is agriculture minister while nephew Namal holds the cabinet post for sports.

- Buses stopped -

Diesel shortages had sparked outrage across Sri Lanka in recent days, but the protests had so far been in towns and not aimed at any top leader, before Thursday's events.

"We are siphoning off fuel from buses that are in the garage for repairs and using that diesel to operate serviceable vehicles," Transport Minister Dilum Amunugama said.

Owners of private buses -- which account for two-thirds of the country's fleet -- said they were already out of oil and that even skeleton services might not be possible after Friday.

"We are still using old stocks of diesel, but if we don't get supplies by this evening, we will not be able to operate," the chairman of the private bus operators association, Gemunu Wijeratne, told AFP.

The state electricity monopoly said it had enforced a 13-hour power cut from Thursday -- the longest ever -- because they did not have diesel for generators.

Reservoirs, which provide more than a third of electricity demand via hydro power plants, were also at dangerously low levels.

The electricity rationing also hit mobile phone base stations and affected the quality of calls, operators said, adding that their stand-by generators were also without diesel.

Several state-run hospitals have stopped conducting surgeries as they have run out of essential life-saving medicines.

Colombo imposed a broad import ban in March 2020 in a bid to save foreign currency needed to service its $51 billion in foreign debt.

The government has said it is seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund while asking for more loans from India and China.

Sri Lanka's predicament was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which torpedoed tourism and remittances.

Many economists also blame government mismanagement including tax cuts and years of budget deficits.

P.Colombo--PV