The curfew has been lifted so that people can celebrate Buddhist festivals in crisis-stricken Sri

A nationwide curfew was completely lifted on Sunday to allow Sri Lankans to celebrate the Buddhist festival of Vesak, when new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe convened a cabinet to resolve the island nation’s economic and political crisis.

A curfew was imposed on May 9 after deadly clashes that forced Mahinda Rajapaksa to resign as prime minister, leaving his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa to run for president.

Many government and private buildings flew multi-colored Buddhist flags, while residents visited all the white-clad temples for the Sunday festival, commemorating the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death.

The more than a month-long predominantly peaceful anti-government protest turned violent earlier this week when supporters of the former prime minister stormed a protest camp in Colombo, set fire to tents and beat protesters. Clashes, and retaliation against government officials, have killed at least nine people and injured more than 300 others.

New Prime Minister Bikram Singh, 73, has held talks with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, his office said in a statement on Sunday.

The statement said, “Negotiations with the agencies focused on assistance for the supply of medicines, food and fertilizers.”

Vikram Singh, who has led the country five times before, appointed his first cabinet on Saturday.

As the sole legislator of his United National Party in the country’s parliament, he has relied on the support of Sri Lankan Podujana Peramuna of Rajapaksa to form the government.

Saturday’s four cabinet appointments, all of which failed to satisfy Rajapaksa’s party, protesters, who want to remove the family from national politics.

The Kovid epidemic, hit hard by rising oil prices and the populist tax cuts by the Rajapaksa government, Sri Lanka is in the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, with massive inflation and a shortage of fuel and other necessities.

A consignment of diesel using an Indian credit line arrived in Colombo on Sunday, the New Delhi embassy said in a tweet.