Sri Lanka leader declares emergency amid protests

Sri Lankans demanding the resignation of the government (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)

Sri Lanka’s president declared a state of emergency on Friday amid widespread public protests demanding his resignation over the country’s worst economic crisis in recent memory.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued a decree declaring a public emergency, which gives him authority to make regulations in the interests of public security, preservation of public order, suppression of mutiny, riot or civil commotion or for the maintenance of essential supplies.