BREAKING: Sri Lanka declares state of emergency

• Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today declared a state of emergency. As a result of this announcement, security forces will now get sweeping powers to deal with anti-government protestors in the country.

• This move has come to "ensure public order" after trade unions staged a nationwide strike Friday demanding his resignation over a worsening economic crisis.

• Months of blackouts and acute shortages of food, fuel and pharmaceuticals have caused widespread suffering across the island nation.

• Officers fired a barrage of tear gas followed by water cannon from two trucks to disperse the protestors. But soon after the protestors reassembled.