A small tent camp in Sri Lankan city becomes focus of national protests

Demonstrators sit in a protest area, dubbed the Gota-Go village, where people are gathering in opposition to Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa near the Presidential Secretariat, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 11, 2022. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

COLOMBO (Reuters) - On a patch of grass near Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office in the commercial capital Colombo, around two dozen tents have been erected in a small but growing camp that is becoming the focal point of national protests.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets nearby and across the country in recent days to call for Rajapaksa to step down, venting their anger at soaring inflation and lengthy power cuts caused by the spiralling economic crisis.