President Gotabaya Rajapaksa reimposed a nationwide curfew that will begin at 2000 local time (1430 UTC) on 16 May 2022 and continue until 0500 local time on 17 May. The curfew had been temporarily lifted on 15 May for the Buddhist Vesak festival. The curfew was first introduced on 9 May following violent clashes between anti-government protesters and government supporters that resulted in a number of casualties and arrests. The anti-government demonstrators are demanding that government leaders resign due to the nation’s worsening economic crisis