Issued on: 14/07/2022 – 08:57
Sri Lanka’s anti-government protesters said on Thursday they were ending their occupation of official buildings, while pledging to continue their attempt to overthrow the president and prime minister in the face of a severe economic crisis.
Protesters stormed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s palace over the weekend and forced him to flee to the Maldives on Wednesday, when activists also stormed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office.
Rajapaksa had promised to resign on Wednesday, but there was no announcement that he had done so.
The prime minister, who was appointed acting president by Rajapaksa in his absence, had demanded the evacuation of state buildings and instructed the security forces “to do whatever it takes to restore order”.
“We will peacefully withdraw from the Presidential Palace, Presidential Secretariat and Prime Minister’s Office with immediate effect, but will continue our struggle,” a spokeswoman for the protesters said.
A leading Buddhist monk who supported the campaign had previously called for the more than 200-year-old presidential palace to be returned to authorities and to ensure that its valuable art and artifacts were preserved.
“This building is a national treasure and must be protected,” monk Omalpe Sobitha told reporters. “There must be a proper audit and the property must be returned to the state.”
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Hundreds of thousands have visited the compound since it opened to the public after Rajapaksa fled and his guards withdrew.
In a televised address after thousands of people occupied his office in Colombo, Wickremesinghe stated: “Those who go to my office want to prevent me from fulfilling my responsibilities as acting president.
“We cannot allow fascists to take over. That is why I have declared a nationwide emergency and curfew,” he added.
The curfew was lifted at dawn on Thursday, but police said a soldier and a police officer were injured in nighttime clashes with protesters outside the national parliament.
The attack on the legislature was beaten back, unlike other locations where the protesters had spectacular success.
The main hospital in Colombo said it had admitted about 85 people with injuries on Wednesday, with one man choking after being given tear gas in the prime minister’s office.
booing
Rajapaksa remained in the Maldives on Thursday, reportedly waiting for a private jet to take him, his wife Ioma and two bodyguards to Singapore.
According to local media reports, he had refused to take a commercial flight with other passengers after being hostile in the Maldives on Wednesday morning.
He was booed and insulted as he left Velana International Airport, and another group held a demonstration in the capital in the afternoon, urging Maldivian authorities not to allow him safe passage.
Maldivian media reported that he had spent the night at the super luxury resort of Waldorf Astoria Ithaafushi.
They contrasted the lavish accommodation with the economic situation of his compatriots – four out of five Sri Lankans who skip meals due to the severe economic crisis in the country.
Security sources in Colombo said Rajapaksa was likely to leave the Maldives on Thursday and his resignation could be announced after he was airborne.
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“The letter of resignation has been prepared,” the source told AFP. “As soon as he gives the green light, the Speaker will give it.”
Diplomatic sources said Rajapaksa’s attempts to get a visa to the United States had been rejected because he renounced his US citizenship in 2019 before running for president.
(AFP)