Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will resign, effective next week, local media reported on Saturday. Rajapaksa earlier left his residence in Colombo as thousands of protesters laid siege to the compound.
His resignation was announced by Sri Lankan news outlet Newsfirst, which cited Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena. It came hours after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe declared that he would also be willing to step down, paving the way for an interim government followed by elections.
Sri Lanka has been rocked by protests for several months, with the unrest driven by soaring inflation and shortages of food, fuel, and medicine. The country defaulted on its foreign debt in May, and fuel rationing was introduced earlier this month, with armed troops deployed to filling stations.
The economic crisis has been blamed partly on the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting fall in tourism revenue for the island nation. However, Rajapaksa’s government has been fiercely condemned for its policies of lavish spending and careless tax cuts, while printing money to pay off foreign bonds.
Changes in the country’s government did little to allay public anger, and protests continued through May and June after the president’s brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, stepped down as Prime Minister, handing the job to Wickremesinghe.
A crowd believed to number around 100,000 descended on the presidential palace earlier on Saturday, as officials told reporters that the president had been “escorted to safety.” With his whereabouts unknown, the demonstrators forced their way into the building, where they raided its kitchen and swam in his private pool.
سری لنکن عوام کا صدارتی محل پر دھاوا… عوام کے پیسوں سے بنے محل پر عوام کا قبضہ…
سب تکبر والے بھاگ گئے محل چھوڑ کر. صدر فرار pic.twitter.com/ltgpcSMu0I
— Haqeeqat TV (@Haqeeqat_TV) July 9, 2022
#Srilanka protesters now lay siege at the Presidential Kitchen after a quick refreshing dive in the President’s swimming pool. Life is good for the protestors. pic.twitter.com/BKf8Tx0Md5
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) July 9, 2022
The kitchen of the presidential palace..#lka #Srilanka #SriLankaProtests #SriLankaEconomicCrisis pic.twitter.com/hnH9PnVjte
— Nawfan (@Nawfan1234) July 9, 2022
Les manifestants profitent de la piscine du Président du #SriLanka après avoir envahi sa résidence #GoHomeGota #SriLankaProtests pic.twitter.com/i36Mi5mFyZ
— Anonyme Citoyen (@AnonymeCitoyen) July 9, 2022
Chaos reigns in Sri Lanka. Now, protestors have set the private residence of PM Ranil Wickremesinghe on fire. Take a look: pic.twitter.com/nOThbWzALD
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) July 9, 2022
As you can see the presidents are always well fed, living like kings while the people are starving. This is exactly why there is this always this huge disconnect between the leadership and its people. This is why he doesn’t feel their pain nor does he care… because he is not starving, he had plenty of food. Little does he care that others are starving.
According to Newsfirst, Rajapaksa will leave office on Wednesday. Parliament will likely choose a caretaker president, and Speaker Abeywardena will likely take over as prime minister, local media reported.
Protesters swim in fleeing president’s pool
A crowd of protesters who forced their way into Sri Lanka’s presidential palace on Saturday raided the compound’s kitchen and swam in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s private pool. Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have both announced their resignation amid mass unrest.
Around 100,000 people are believed to have surrounded the president’s residence in Colombo on Saturday, and local sources told reporters that Rajapaksa had been “escorted to safety” at an unknown location by soldiers. When security forces failed to hold back the mob outside the compound, droves of demonstrators forced their way into the president’s residence.
Video footage shared on social media showed dozens of the protesters raiding cupboards in Rajapaksa’s kitchen and cooking whatever food they found.
Others made their way to the president’s quarters, snapping selfies on a bed and rummaging through drawers. Demonstrators assembled in rooms near the kitchen appeared to be behaving themselves, with one man seen sweeping up after the crowd had passed through.
Outside, a large group of protesters stripped off their shirts and dived into Rajapaksa’s swimming pool.
Sri Lanka has been in a state of unrest for several months, with food and fuel in short supply and prices skyrocketing. The country defaulted on its foreign debt in May for the first time in its history. Fuel rationing was introduced earlier this month, and armed police and troops have become a common sight at petrol stations.
The crisis has been attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic, which deprived the island nation of vital tourism revenue. However, Rajapaksa’s government increased spending, cut taxes, and printed cash to pay foreign bonds, driving inflation upwards.
Rajapaksa announced later on Saturday that he will leave office, effective next week. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe announced his own resignation hours earlier, but the announcement didn’t deter protesters from setting his residence on fire, after riot police unsuccessfully tried to deter the crowd with tear gas.
Several dozen people were reported injured during Saturday’s protests in Colombo.
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