The Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe announced their resignation on Saturday after thousands of protesters stormed their official residences in a day of massive protests in Colombo against the Government for its management of the economic crisis.
(Sri Lanka: Protesters enter the President’s official residence)
As the streets filled with chants against Rajapaksa, evacuated to safety on a day that left images of jubilant protesters swimming in the presidential residence’s swimming pool and working out in his gym, Wickremesinghe first announced his resignation.
The speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, announced Rajapaksa’s resignation. “Because he wants to hand over the leadership of the country peacefully, he asked me to inform the nation that his resignation will be handed in on Wednesday (July 13),” Abeywardena said in a televised message.
Hundreds of protesters entered Rajapaksa’s official residence on Saturday morning after breaking the security perimeter, despite the fact that the police used tear gas to prevent the intrusion, the Sri Lankan newspaper Ada Derana said.
The president had previously left the area, alerted by the security forces about the massive demonstration called for days in Colombo, although since then the leader has not appeared in public and his whereabouts are unknown.
The day left images, broadcast live on local television and on social networks, of hundreds of people taking a relaxed dip in the presidential pool, trying out the machines in the gym or even in the residence’s bedrooms. Protesters also stormed the Presidential Secretariat buildings and the Prime Minister’s official Temple Trees residence. In addition, the prime minister’s office accused them of setting Wickremesinghe’s private house on fire at nightfall.
“Protesters have entered the private residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and set it on fire,” the president’s office said in a statement.
The Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror showed images of hundreds of people gathered around Wickremesinghe’s private residence in Colombo, in an environment filled with smoke and with the house on fire in the background.
Ada Derana reported that security forces fired tear gas and attacked protesters outside the prime minister’s residence during the afternoon. “I wholeheartedly condemn the brutal and inhumane attack on News First journalists by Police officers stationed to protect Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Shame, illegitimate prime minister,” opposition politician and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa launched on Twitter. A spokesman for the Colombo National Hospital told the media that at least twelve people have been injured. On the other hand, the demonstrators were unmovable during the day in their requests for resignation.
“What I earn is not enough for me to live on, since everything is so expensive. I live with my parents and they help me, but how long can I continue like this? I think that if Gotabaya leaves, things will get better,” Sarasi told Efe. Thanuja, 21, from one of the centers of the protests in the capital.
EFE
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