After months of simmering tensions, brought on by a severe economic crisis that led to shortage of essentials including food and fuel, Sri Lanka descended into chaos in early 2022, with an unprecedented wave of protests breaking out across the island nation of 22 million people. The initial phase of street protests in Sri Lanka’s main city of Colombo were led by students but as political leaders vacillated and shortages worsened, tens of thousands of ordinary Sri Lankans – from all sections of society – took to the roads. In early July, a massive show of public dissatisfaction in Colombo, which included clashes with armed police and military soldiers, led to the storming and then subsequent occupation of Sri Lanka’s presidential palace and other government buildings, ending with the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who also temporarily fled the country. It was the first time in Sri Lankan history that an elected executive president had been forced to quit because of public unrest.
