Following Friday's island-wide trade union strike bringing Sri Lanka to a complete halt and ahead of planned continuous "hartal" (strike) from May 11 against the government, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared state of emergency from Friday midnight.

Emergency law gives sweeping powers to military to crackdown on protests and make arrests without court warrants. President Rajapaksa declared state of emergency on the powers vested on him under the Public Security Ordinance.