Sri Lanka police disperse protesters

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka police fired tear gas and water cannon on a small protest yesterday to break up the first demonstration since the crisishit island nation lifted a state of emergency.

An unprecedented economic collapse has sparked often huge antigovernment rallies this year. The government had imposed a state of emergency, but the ordinance lapsed overnight.

Several hundred students attempted to march to the city centre in Colombo for a rally outside the railway station before they were blocked and dispersed by officers armed with batons and riot shields. The government said it would not renew the state of emergency.