Sri Lanka teachers, bank workers join mass walkout over economic crisis

Trade unions protest during a nationwide strike demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rakapaksa and his cabinet, blaming them for creating the country's worst economic crisis in decades, in front of the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 28, 2022. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Many schools in Colombo were shut and several train stations deserted on Thursday as teachers and train drivers joined mass walkouts demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's government quit over Sri Lanka's worst financial crisis in decades.

Hundreds of employees from Sri Lankan state-run banks, most wearing black and carrying black flags, also joined other bank trade unions in a protest march to the president’s office as thousands of people took to the streets around the country.