Calm returned to Sri Lanka’s city of Colombo on Thursday, as citizens awaited the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who arrived in Singapore, and a curfew was imposed and the army patrolled the streets to prevent an outbreak of violence.
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today that it has allowed Rajapaksa to enter its territory on a private visit.
Rajapaksa has yet to tender his resignation despite his pledge to step down by Wednesday, which has sparked new uncertainty in the South Asian country.
His decision on Wednesday to appoint his ally, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, as acting president, sparked more protests, as demonstrators stormed parliament and the prime minister’s office, demanding his departure as well.
Protests against the economic crisis raged for months and culminated at the end of last week, when hundreds of thousands of people took over government buildings in Colombo.
Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards fled Sri Lanka aboard an air force plane early Wednesday morning, bound for the Maldives.
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