Lankan Prez flees as protesters storm house

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 9

Thousands of anti-government protesters stormed into the President’s House on Saturday, forcing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee with his family for an unknown destination. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s house was set on fire by the protesters as Sri Lanka slid further into the economic morass.

Before protesters went on a rampage at his residence, Wickremesinghe attended an all-party meeting where he offered to resign to make way for a unity government.

At least 45 persons were injured in baton charge by security forces, but the crowds kept on swelling and finally breached the barricades to enter the President’s House. Protesters also clashed with the railway authorities in Galle, Kandy and Matara while forcing authorities to operate trains to Colombo. The organisers of the movement ‘Whole country to Colombo’ said people walking to join protesters at Colombo Fort could now go by trains.

Gotabaya was using the President’s House as his residence and office since protesters came to occupy the entrance to his office in early April.

President Gotabaya’s whereabouts were unknown amidst rumours that he had fled in a Navy ship. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens made themselves comfortable in the President’s plush residence. Video footage showed some of them trying out the beds and sofas while others took a dip in the Olympic-size swimming pool.

The PM’s media division said that Wickremesinghe would resign after an all-party government was established and the majority was secured in Parliament. Wickremesinghe was appointed PM after anti-government protests forced the resignation of then PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, the elder brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in May. Interestingly, Mahinda also fled to the safety of a naval port after protesters torched his ancestral home and brought down the statue of his father.

Opposition parties said both the President and the PM must resign and Speaker Abeywardena should become acting President as per the Constitution. The Opposition is opposed to Wickremesinghe becoming interim President as neither was he elected by the people nor could he win his seat in the parliamentary poll.

• Gotabaya escapes in Navy ship
• PM Wickremesinghe’s house set afire
• He offers to resign at all-party meeting

Unprecedented scenes

• Protesters occupy bedroom, help themselves to food in the kitchen and splash in a giant pool
• Lanka is under the grip of a severe economic turmoil, the worst in five decades

$51 bn foreign debt

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Tribune News Service

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