Protesters at the residence of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the capital Colombo on Saturday. Credit… Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose family has dominated Sri Lankan politics for most of the past two decades, was asked by the country’s political leaders to step down on Saturday after months of protests accusing him of mismanaging the country’s economy. the island nation in the land through corruption and mismanagement.
The call for Mr Rajapaksa’s resignation was confirmed by two MPs and came after protesters stormed the president’s residence and office and thousands more descended on the capital Colombo to register their growing anger at his government’s failure to dealt with the crippling economic crisis.
Then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who only took office in May and has also faced calls to resign, signaled he would step down.
Sri Lanka has run out of foreign exchange reserves to import essential items such as fuel and medicine, and the UN has warned that more than a quarter of Sri Lanka’s 21 million people are at risk of food shortages.
The economic crisis is a major setback for the island nation, which was still struggling with the legacy of a bloody civil war that lasted three decades. This conflict between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels, who took up the cause of discrimination against the ethnic Tamil minority, ended in 2009. But many of its root causes remain, with the Rajapaksa family continuing to serve the Buddhist Sinhalese majority.
At least 42 people were injured in clashes with security forces in the city, health officials said, after police used tear gas and water cannons against protesters and fired into the air to try to disperse them.
Local news media showed footage of protesters disrupting parts of the presidential residence as well as his secretariat, a separate building that houses his office.
Videos on social media showed protesters jumping into the pool at Mr. Rajapaksa’s residence, resting in bedrooms and frying snacks in the presidential kitchen.
“I came here today to send the president home,” said Vasantha Kiruvattuduwa, 50, who had walked 10 miles to join the protest. “Now the president must resign. If he wants peace to prevail, he must withdraw.
Mr. Rajapaksa’s whereabouts were unclear.
The protests have been going on for months, but Saturday’s demonstration appeared to be one of the largest yet, even though authorities had imposed a curfew and halted trains in an attempt to stop people from reaching the capital.
On Friday, the United Nations called on “the Sri Lankan authorities to exercise restraint in policing the gatherings and ensure all necessary efforts are made to prevent violence.”
— Skanda Gunasekara and Mujib Mashal
Add Comment