Ekeomah Atuonwu
On Saturday, just before demonstrators incensed by an unprecedented economic crisis overran the property and seized his adjacent office, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left his official house.
Following months of severe suffering for the island nation’s 22 million residents due to a slump, thousands of protestors besieged the leader’s mansion to demand his resignation.
The military defending the property shot in the air as the mob rushed towards the presidential palace’s gates to disperse it until Rajapaksa could be safely removed. Security forces attempted to disperse the huge crowds that had mobbed Colombo’s administrative district.
Three people were hospitalised after being shot along with 36 others who suffered breathing difficulties following intense tear gas barrages, a spokeswoman for the main hospital in Colombo said.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who would assume the presidency in the event of Rajapaksa’s resignation, has called an urgent cabinet meeting to discuss a “swift resolution” to the political crisis.
After running out of foreign cash to buy essential products, Sri Lanka has endured months of food and fuel shortages, protracted blackouts, and escalating inflation.
For the march on Saturday, the latest in a string of unrest brought on by the crisis, thousands of people flooded into the city.
Following threats to sue the police chief from opposition parties, rights advocates, and the bar association, police withdrew a curfew that had been imposed on Friday.
According to officials, thousands of anti-government protestors disobeyed the directive to stay at home and even compelled railroad authorities to run trains to transport them to Colombo for the event on Saturday.
Although the nation’s already limited gasoline supplies are almost gone, demonstrators supported by the major opposition parties chartered private buses to go to the capital.
In protest of the government’s poor handling of the problem, protesters have been camping out in front of Rajapaksa’s oceanfront office for months.
Assault rifle-wielding soldiers were sent by bus into Colombo on Friday to help the police protecting Rajapaksa’s official house. According to the authorities, a security operation to safeguard the president had been deployed with approximately 20,000 soldiers and police personnel.
With the International Monetary Fund, Sri Lanka has been in rescue negotiations after defaulting on its $51 billion external debt. Nine people were killed and hundreds wounded when clashes erupted across the country after Rajapaksa loyalists attacked peaceful protesters outside the president’s office in May.
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Colombo, Sri Lanka right now. The Presidential Palace has been stormed, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is said to have fled. Unbelievable scenes. Live reports on @IndiaToday: https://t.co/p6JV6FzCub pic.twitter.com/8zlJdBfN2P
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) July 9, 2022
