Colombo: Sri Lanka’s parliament has extended a state of emergency declared by President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
This action came as Wickremesinghe’s government cracks down on demonstrators it accuses of violence while trying to find a way out of the country’s worst economic crisis.
The vote passed by 120 to 63 in the 225-member parliament on Wednesday, while the remaining legislators abstained.
The emergency ordinance, which empowers troops to arrest and detain suspects for long periods, would have lapsed on Wednesday if it had not been ratified by parliament.
Wickremesinghe declared a state of emergency last week as acting president before legislators elected him to serve the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s five-year term until 2024.
Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka after thousands of protesters stormed the president’s official residence and other buildings. He later resigned from Singapore.
