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Arson, violence, loot: Fire breaks out in Lanka PM’s house, President’s house broken as crisis escalates

July 9, 2022
Bharat Times

Thousands stormed the official residence of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Saturday, expressing public anger over the island country’s deteriorating economic condition. Rajapaksa fled his official residence in Colombo minutes before an angry mob broke police barricades and entered the premises.

The protesters are demanding the resignation of the President due to the dire economic situation in the country. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called an important meeting of all party leaders and requested Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abhaywardhan to convene Parliament. Ranil Wickremesinghe offered to resign to facilitate an ‘all party government’.

By late evening, the protesters started their march towards Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence and set it on fire. Meanwhile, the Speaker said that President Rajapaksa has agreed to resign on July 13.

Here are the top developments:

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his official residence in Colombo on Saturday after protesters demanded the leader’s resignation. Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic turmoil in seven decades. A top defense source told AFP that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was taken to a safe place.

Local TV channel Newsfirst showed video footage of the protests where people can be seen holding Sri Lankan flags and helmets. Protesters arrived in buses, trains and trucks and raised slogans of ‘go home’ to express their anger over the government’s failure to bring the economic crisis under control. At least 21 people, including two police, were injured and hospitalized in the protests, according to Reuters.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called an emergency meeting of political party leaders after protesters stormed Rashtrapati Bhavan. Opposition and SJB leader Sajith Premadasa said he or his party would not attend the party leaders’ meeting called by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Amid the protests, Sri Lankan MP Rajita Senaratne was attacked by protesters as agitation broke out on the streets. In the video, Rajita Senaratne was seen being beaten up and punched by the protesters from all sides.

Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya also sought the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and said that he stands with the people of Sri Lanka. Colombo MP Harsh de Silva and Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara joined the protest.

-At the crucial party meeting, party leaders reportedly requested President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to step down. Speaker Yapa Abhaywardene wrote to the President and gave him a four-point proposal for new elections within a stipulated period.

Read also| Sri Lanka economic crisis: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees after storming protesters’ residence

In another significant development, all schools in Sri Lanka have been closed till July 15. At least four state universities have asked to remain closed due to the collapsing economy.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told party leaders after the all-party meeting that he was ready to resign and make way for an all-party government. Wickremesinghe said he would resign when all the parties agreed to form the new government.

The protesters marched towards the official residence of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, after which the police had to use tear gas and water cannons against them. According to local reports, Wickremesinghe’s security forces attacked the journalists.

PM Ranil Wickremesinghe has released an audio in Sinhalese on Twitter and said that he is ready to resign with certain conditions. The Prime Minister reiterated that a new government should be formed after the resignation of this government. Cabinet Minister Bandula Gunavardhan and President’s Media Head (Director General of Presidential Media) Sudeva Hettiarachi also announced their resignations later.

After news of the attack on journalists surfaced, the mob marched towards Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s residence and set it on fire. Police fired tear gas shells at the crowd marching to Ranil Wickremesinghe’s house.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Yapa Abhayawardene wrote a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Saturday after a meeting of party leaders at his residence. It was decided in the meeting that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe should resign immediately. The leaders also said that Parliament should be convened in seven days to appoint an acting President.

The third decision was to appoint an interim all-party government under the new prime minister who won a majority in parliament. And the fourth, according to Newswire, was to call for elections and appoint a new government within a short period of time.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abhayawardene said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has informed that he will resign on July 13.

Sri Lanka economic crisis

Sri Lanka is facing the worst economic crisis as the island nation does not have enough foreign exchange to pay for imports including petrol and diesel. Sri Lanka’s forex reserves have fallen 70% since January 2020. Prolonged tax cuts introduced by the government only worsened the economic crisis.

Prices have risen due to shortage of food and fuel and inflation has now reached 30 per cent. This halted its imports, leading to a severe shortage of many essential commodities. Its currency has devalued significantly.

The credit arrangement with China also contributed to Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. Most of the loans received from China over the past decade were invested in projects with low returns, such as the construction of ports, airports and coal power plants. The loan amount was approximately USD 5 billion.

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