Sri Lanka’s parliament approves state of emergency

Members of the People’s Liberation Front shout anti government slogans during a protest denouncing corruption and demanding a fresh parliamentary election in Colombo, Sri Lanka (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)

Sri Lanka’s parliament has approved a state of emergency that had been declared by President Ranil Wickremesinghe as his 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 120-63 in the 225-member parliament. The other legislators abstained.