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Sri Lankans staged a countrywide strike on Thursday, asking for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation as the country continues to suffer from its worst economic crisis in decades. Protests against the government, which began earlier this month, grew in intensity as workers from many sectors joined the strike, resulting in public transportation shutdowns and inconveniences.

The President has invited a meeting of all political parties for Friday to talk about forming a government to help the country get through the crisis. Dissident members, on the other hand, have stated that they will only attend the meeting if Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is not in attendance.

The following are the most recent developments:

 On Thursday, unions from a variety of industries, including public service, health, ports, power, education, and postal, joined a statewide walkout. Under the cry "Bow to the people – government go home," protesters demanded that the President and Prime Minister resign.

As a result of the walkout, businesses, public transportation, including railway services, banking services, and schools were interrupted. Plantation workers from the tea and rubber industries, as well as doctors and nurses, took part in the demonstration during their lunch breaks. Dilum Amunugama, the Minister of Transport, has requested that people who endanger public transportation or block highways be arrested.

President Gotabaya has called a conference on Friday to discuss the establishment of an all-party government, inviting even the current coalition's dissenters. "We would go for the meeting but on one condition: it must be without the presence of the prime minister," Vasudeva Nanayakkara, one of the party's leaders, told reporters on Thursday. Despite Mahinda's refusal to resign, the President stated in a letter to the parties on Wednesday that an all-party government may be formed after the PM's resignation.

The Criminal Investigations Department detained four officers in connection with the death of a protester who was allegedly killed in a police firing incident during an anti-government protest in the Rambukkana region last week.

Two Sri Lankan nationals were arrested for unlawfully entering Tamil Nadu. The two individuals were allegedly implicated in drug trafficking cases in Sri Lanka, according to police authorities quoted by news agency PTI, and had moved to India in the aftermath of the economic crisis.