US Ambassador Julie Chang joined several other heads of missions in Colombo to call on the Government to respect the people’s right to peaceful protests.

“Sri Lankans have a right to protest peacefully – essentially for democratic expression. I am watching the situation closely, and hope the coming days bring restraint from all sides, as well as much-needed economic stability and relief for those suffering,” Ambassador Chang said on Twitter.

The Office of the European Union expressed concern over the state of emergency and strongly urged Sri Lankan authorities to safeguard democratic rights of all citizens, including the right to free assembly and dissent, which has to be peaceful. “Challenging times for Sri Lankan people – EU continues to follow situation closely,” the EU office in Colombo said.

The German Ambassador in Colombo Holger Seubert associated himself with the sentiments of the EU and added that people demonstrating for their rights is no emergency. “It’s the emergency that brings them to the streets,” he said.

The Canadian High Commissioner in Colombo David McKinnon said that the freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest are fundamental to the success of any democracy, including Sri Lanka’s. “The free exchange of ideas is also how solutions to challenges will be found,” he said on Twitter.

Meanwhile thousands of Lankans abroad from around the world yesterday staged protests demanding the Government resign over the failure to resolve multiple crises.

Protestors from Australia, New Zealand, UK, France, US, Finland, Canada, Italy and Germany held placards and shouted slogans demanding that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa step down along with the rest of the Government.

Irrespective of religion or race, Sri Lankans living overseas gathered in unity to show their support to fellow Lankans at home, who are suffering from the worst economic crisis, amidst a state of emergency, where curfew has been imposed countrywide.

They called on the Government to stop oppression against people’s right to protest peacefully.

A small group of protestors have gathered outside President Gotabaya Rakapaksa’s son’s house in Los Angeles, USA, with protestors calling on him to call his father back home.

The protester said that President Gotabaya had to go down and his money had to come back. The protester said that people in Los Angeles are with Sri Lankans

The National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka (NCE), the exclusive Chamber representing Sri Lankan Exporters, has expressed grave concern and disappointment over the failure of policy makers and responsible State institutions to resolve this disaster.

The Chamber predominantly points with dismay at the poor decisions, faulty assumptions, ineffective planning, sluggish responses and above all, the poor and weaker leadership itself that has helped to create this ill-fated condition.

Despite a set target to reach $ 20 billion export revenue in 2022, the Government has failed to maintain a regular supply of power and energy, completely disrupting the production process of this country.

Sri Lankan Exporters are facing extreme difficulties in continuing with their daily operations under these tragic circumstances and opting for generators have increased the cost of production.

The stark assessment that, time and time again those who were responsible for protecting and leading the nation have failed miserably to do either. One failure leading to another has created a mayhem which fractured the whole system leading to massive social unrest.

The prolonged power cuts of 10-13 hours impact both the general public and also the industries, causing them to suffer. The production cannot be planned properly and workers also cannot report to work with no transport.

Making things worse, with the high inflation and the cost of living becoming unbearable, the country is currently experiencing social unrest as people have no other option but to fight for their rights, with especially the children, old and the sick being affected badly, not to mention deprived of sleep.

NCE also laments the fact that the current crisis has arisen due to the abject failure of the policy makers and responsible State institutions in the power and energy sector to implement the projects for alternative power generation, over and above the capacity for hydropower generation, to meet the projected demand in terms of the Master Power Sector Plan, in respect of expanded production activities and domestic consumer demand.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The economic and social failure has turned Sri Lanka on its head.

“It is clear that responsible decision makers need to step up and act quickly to find ways to at least mitigate further disasters. There is much we don’t know about what happens next, but what we do know is that leadership is not where it should be and the system as it stands now is clearly unfit to resolve these matters.”