On April 6, Mississippi State University’s Sri Lankan Association gathered at the center of the Drill Field to protest against the political and economic crisis in Sri Lanka.
Sumudu Athukorale, a Ph.D. student studying chemistry, said the association gathered to protest the political corruption found in Sri Lanka.
“We are from Sri Lanka, and we are protesting against the current situation in Sri Lanka because the leaders and political parties are corrupted. Everything is corrupted right now in Sri Lanka,” Athukorale said.
Athukorale said the corruption has had a drastic consequence on the nation’s citizens.
“People are suffering,” Athukorale said.
Athukorale said Sri Lankan government officials had been putting their own needs before their citizens.
Sri Lanka is undergoing one of the worst economic depressions in decades. Zaheena Rasheed of AlJazeera reported that the foreign currency crunch has left the Sri Lankan government unable to afford fuel. 
This has led to frequent electricity blackouts in parts of the country.
Rasheed wrote that food and medicine prices have also doubled.
Athukorale said the lack of food and the constant power outages have been drastic on citizens.
“Especially for the kids. They cannot go to school because the schools are closed, you know, and ever students cannot take exams. Everything is in trouble right now,” Athukorale said.
Athukorale said they wished the government would allow the correct people to lead Sri Lanka.
“Yeah, but we are enforcing the government to step back,” Athukorale said.
Athukorale noted that while most other leaders and politicians around the world are educated, most of the Sri Lankan population is not.
“I think about 1% or less than 1% of people are well educated. Other than that, everyone is not educated,” Athukorale said.
Athukorale said Mahinda Rajapaksa, prime minister of Sri Lanka, did not know how to properly lead the country and handle the current crisis.
“They’re like ruling them on a certain ministry, but they don’t have any knowledge on the economy’s situation or how to handle these financial matters, especially the finance ministry,” Athukorale said.
Athukorale emphasized the protest as a way to criticize the Sri Lankan government’s involvement in the economic crisis.
“This is not the way to rule the country. I mean, you need a real change, or a system change in the country,” Athukorale said.
Next to Athukorale stood Chamika Silva, a lecturer at University of Peradeniya, who held a sign in Sinhala, one of Sri Lanka’s national languages.
“This says the president’s name,” Silva said.
Silva said the citizens of Sri Lanka had asked Gotabaya Rajapaksa, president of Sri Lanka, to step down from his position.
“So, we asked him to step down and leave the country because within the last two years, he just stalled government money,” Silva said.
According to Jessie Yeung of CNN, Rajapaksa cut taxes as a way to stimulate the economy, but the plan backfired, making Sri Lanka unable to access overseas markets.
Yeung said the crisis has caused daily life for Sri Lankans to consist of long lines and rationed food.
Silva agreed that the lack of electricity, gas and food has been due to Rajapaksa’s actions.
“The people are protesting, so we are with them. This protest is actually to let them know that we are getting them. They say please change, so we need to change,” Silva said.
Another eye-catching sign was held by Samadhi Nawalage, a graduate student studying chemistry.
“So that I tried to translate it into proper English, but this says bad karma can also come in the form of a precedent,” Nawalage said. 
The crowd of protesters gathered together proudly to display their signs and continued to relay their cause to students passing by for a couple of hours.