Sri Lanka marks independence anniversary amid economic woes

Sri Lankan soldiers march during the Independence Day ceremony in Colombo (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)

Sri Lanka marked its 75th independence anniversary on Saturday as a bankrupt nation, with many citizens angry, anxious and in no mood to celebrate.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has started to improve some but not all of the acute shortages, acknowledged the sombre state of the nation, saying in a televised speech: “We have reached the point of destruction.”