Police and military presence has been beefed up around Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, where a burnt-out wreckage of a bus is still blocking the road to President Rajapaksa's house
Colombo imposed a broad import ban in March 2020 in a bid to save foreign currency needed to repay nearly $7.0 billion this year to service its $51 billion in debts.
"The Thursday night protest was led by extremist forces calling for an Arab Spring to create instability in our country," the president's office said in a brief statement.An overnight curfew was lifted early on Friday morning, but police and military presence was beefed up around the city, where a burnt-out wreckage of a bus was still blocking the road to Rajapaksa's house.
Security forces fired into the crowd and used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators. It was not immediately clear if they used live rounds or rubber bullets.
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