This is the report delivered by Deepal Jayasekera to the 2022 International May Day Online Rally held on May 1. Jayasekera is the assistant national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in Sri Lanka.
On April 19, amid mass anti-government protests, Sri Lankan police forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters at Rambukkana demanding affordable food and fuel.
The Colombo political establishment will accept the IMF’s austerity terms and the “pain” will inevitably be imposed on the vast majority of the population working people and rural toilers.
The brother of Roshen Rathnasekara, a worker shot dead by police during a 2011 protest over pensions, told the WSWS that history was repeating itself with the police killing of Chaminda Lakshan during protests over fuel shortages last week.
Lakshan was shot by police who opened fire on unarmed people protesting delays in petrol deliveries and sharp price rises in petrol and diesel announced the previous day.