- President Rajapaksa flees hours before the planned resignation
- Protesters are demanding the removal of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe
- Wickremesinghe declares an emergency, retreats shortly after
COLOMBO, July 13 (Reuters) – Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the Maldives on Wednesday amid a popular uprising sparked by an economic collapse, which apparently ended nearly two decades of rule. his family in the country.
But his decision to leave his allied prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in office as incumbent president sparked more protests, with protesters storming the prime minister’s office demanding that he also go.
Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left the main international airport near Colombo early on Wednesday aboard an air force plane, the air force said in a statement.
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He was expected to head to Singapore, a government source said.
The Wickremesinghe office initially declared a state of emergency and a curfew with immediate effect, then canceled them, but said the measures would be re-announced later.
Police stationed in front of the prime minister’s office fired several rounds of tear gas at protesters, but did not deter them and entered the compound. Wickremesinghe’s team refused to reveal his whereabouts.
“It feels pretty wonderful, people were trying to occupy this place for about three hours,” said 25-year-old college student Sanchuka Kavinda, next to an open, shattered door of the prime minister’s office. “Whatever happens, everyone in this crowd will be here until Ranil leaves office as well.”
Local media said a 26-year-old protester who was hospitalized after receiving tear gas died of breathing difficulties.
In a statement, Wickremesinghe said protesters had no reason to storm his office.
“They want to stop the parliamentary process. But we have to respect the Constitution. So the security forces have advised me to impose an emergency and a curfew. I am working to do that,” he said.
Sri Lanka has been ruled by the powerful Rajapaksa family for most of the last two decades. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected president of the country in November 2019.
On the ground floor of the whitewashed colonial-era building, dozens of protesters sang Sinhala pop songs. A large group of security personnel armed with assault rifles sat in a room.
Protest organizers and security personnel occupied a central wooden staircase in the heart of the building, guiding tourists to and from the top floor where the prime minister’s room is located.
In a room adjoining the top floor, plush furniture had been hurriedly pushed into the corners and a row of armed security personnel led visitors through.
NEW LEADER NEXT WEEK
Protesters gather in front of the office of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe amid the country’s economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 13, 2022. REUTERS / Adnan Abidi
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Parliament is expected to appoint a new full-time president next week, and a ruling party source told Reuters that Wickremesinghe was the party’s first choice, although no decision had been made.
An attempt by Wickremesinghe to cling would anger protesters who say he is a close ally of the Rajapaksa family, which has dominated the country since Rajapaksa’s older brother, Mahinda, became president in 2005.
“A deputy with a seat is appointed prime minister. Now the same person is appointed acting president,” opposition presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa said on Twitter. “This is the style of Rajapaksa democracy. What a farce. What a tragedy.”
Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said Rajapaksa had called him and told him his resignation letter would arrive later Wednesday.
The government source said Rajapaksa was still in Male, the capital of the Maldives, where local media reported that Singapore would likely grant him asylum. Read more
An aide to Rajapaksa and the Singapore government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
ECONOMIC CRISIS
Protests against the economic crisis have been raging for months and culminated last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people took over government buildings in Colombo, blaming the Rajapaksas and their allies for inflation, l scarcity and corruption. Read more
Government sources and aides said the brothers of the president, former president and prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, were still in Sri Lanka.
Wickremesinghe, whose private residence in Colombo was set on fire on Saturday, had offered to resign as prime minister, but did not repeat that offer after he became acting president on Wednesday. If he leaves, the spokesman would be acting president until a new president is elected on July 20, as planned.
Amid economic and political chaos, Sri Lankan sovereign bond prices hit historic lows on Wednesday.
The U.S. embassy in Colombo said it was canceling consular services for the afternoon and Thursday as a precautionary measure.
The island nation’s tourism-dependent economy was hit first by the COVID-19 pandemic and then by a drop in Sri Lanka’s remittances abroad. The ban on chemical fertilizers affected production, although it was later reversed. Read more
The Rajapaksas implemented populist tax cuts in 2019 that hurt government finances, while the reduction in foreign reserves reduced imports of fuel, food and medicine.
Gasoline has been heavily rationed and long queues have formed in front of gas stalls for cooking. Global inflation reached 54.6% last month and the central bank has warned it could rise to 70% in the coming months.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, president from 2005 to 2015 and then prime minister under his brother, resigned in May after protests against the family turned violent. He remained hidden in a military base in the east of the country for a few days before returning to Colombo.
On Tuesday, Sri Lankan immigration officials prevented Basil Rajapaksa, who resigned in April as finance minister, from flying out of the country. Read more
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Additional report by Kanishka Singh, Alasdair Pal, Lin Chen and Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Written by Krishna N. Das and Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Sam Holmes, Shri Navaratnam and Kim Coghill
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