Sri Lankans have a right to protest peacefully: US Envoy

Colombo, Apr 2: Hours after Sri Lanka's president declared a state of emergency in the island nation, the US Ambasaddor to US Julie Chung extended support to "peaceful demonstration."

He said that people of Sri Lanka has the right to protest peacefully as it is an essential for democratic expression. He tweeted, "Sri Lankans have a right to protest peacefully - essential for democratic expression. I am watching the situation closely, and hope the coming days bring restraint from all sides, as well as much needed economic stability and relief for those suffering."

It came a day after the protests turned violent near the president's home. Rajapaksa's office blamed "organized extremists" within the thousands of protesters for violence during Thursday night's demonstration, where police fired tear gas and a water cannon and arrested 54 people.

There are also calls for an island-wide public protest on Sunday.

Dozens of other people were also injured. Nuwan Bopage, an attorney representing some of the suspects, said several of them were being taken for medical examinations for various injuries and were to appear in court Friday.

A police curfew that had been implemented in the suburbs of the capital, Colombo, was lifted Friday morning. The protesters blame Rajapaksa for long power outages and shortages of essential goods.

Sri Lanka's president declared a state of emergency in the island nation on Saturday. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa invoked sections of the Public Security Ordinance, 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.