Sri Lanka: Protesters storm Prime Minister’s office, as President flees country
Rajapaksa had been expected to formally resign Wednesday but instead left the crisis-hit nation and appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as its acting leader, citing a section of the constitution that allows a Prime Minister to “discharge the powers, duties and functions of the office of President” when the President is ill or “absent” from Sri Lanka.
Wickremesinghe was also due to formally resign “to make way for an all-party government.”
The move further enraged protesters, who want both leaders to vacate their roles as the country’s 22 million people struggle to buy basic goods, fuel and medicine.
Hundreds of demonstrators breached the compound of the prime minister’s office in capital Colombo on Wednesday and entered the premises, according to footage from the scene and local witnesses.
The grounds have now been taken over by protesters who are gathering in celebration, following a standoff with armed police at the gates of the property.
People could be seen on the balcony of the property, lighting firecrackers and waving the Sri Lankan flag, according to witnesses.
Demonstrators outside demanded that neither the President nor the Prime Minister “be spared.”
As demonstrators took to the streets, Prime Minister’s Wickremesinghe’s office said he planned to call a state of emergency across the country. He also directed the defense ministry to impose a curfew across Colombo and the rest of the country’s Western province, a ministry official told CNN.
The official, who did not wish to be identified, said Wickremesinghe ordered that “unruly persons and those traveling in lorries be arrested.”
A handful of protesters also entered the premises of state broadcaster Sri Lanka Rupavahini on Wednesday, negotiating a “deal” with broadcast staff to not give airtime to politicians such as Wickremesinghe.
At the prime minister’s office, demonstrators waving the Sri Lankan flag thronged the building and celebrated on the balcony of the property after a standoff with the police, according to eyewitnesses and footage from the scene.
The President flees
Rajapaksa was forced to announce his resignation after after more than 100,000 people massed outside his residence over the weekend.
His planned resignation would leave him without presidential immunity — potentially exposing him to a raft of legal charges and reduced security.
After being blocked from departing the country at least twice on Monday, Rajapaksa and his wife managed to flee to Malé, in the Maldives on Wednesday, according to a high-ranking security official.
They flew on an AN32 troop transport plane from the Sri Lanka Air Force shortly before he was due to step down.
Maldivian air traffic control refused the plane’s request to land until an intervention by the Speaker of the Maldivian Parliament and former President Mohamed Nasheed, according to the official. A spokesperson for Nasheed did not confirm or deny the intervention.
Sri Lanka’s Air Force on Wednesday confirmed Rajapaksa’s departure, saying in a statement:…
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