Nearly two dozen social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube, Snapchat were affected. TIC TocAnd instagram,
Netblox tweeted, “Confirmed: Real-time network data shows Sri Lanka has imposed a nationwide social media blackout, restricting access to platforms including Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and Instagram, amid widespread protests. Emergency has been declared.”
Ahead of the planned protest for Sunday, the island nation had announced a 36-hour curfew from Saturday to Monday as the country faced a severe power crisis and rising inflation.
The island nation of 22 million people is having a tough time dealing with a blackout for 13 hours a day as the government scrambles to secure foreign currency to pay for fuel imports.
A London-based rights watchdog warned the Sri Lankan government on Saturday that a declaration of emergency in the island nation in the name of public safety should not be an excuse for human rights violations.
“Sri Lanka: Declaration of a state of emergency in the name of public safety should not become an excuse for further human rights violations. The purpose of the order to declare a state of emergency is also to restrict the rights to freedom of association, assembly and movement. Due process security As in,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
“In the context of growing public discontent over the government’s handling of the economic crisis, by instilling fear in a state of emergency, arbitrary arrests and detentions may have the effect of suppressing dissent,” the statement said.
President Gotabaya on Friday Rajapaksa Issued the Extraordinary Gazette declaring a state of public emergency in Sri Lanka with immediate effect.
Rajapaksa said the emergency was declared in the interest of public safety, protection of public order and maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community.