COLOMBO, July 10 (Reuters) – Leaders of Sri Lanka’s protest movement said on Sunday they would occupy the residences of the president and prime minister until they finally leave office, a day after the two men agreed to resign, leaving the country in political impasse.
Thousands of protesters stormed the home and office of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the prime minister’s official residence on Saturday as demonstrations over their failure to tackle a devastating economic crisis erupted into violence.
Rajapaksa will resign on July 13, while Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has also said he will step down to allow a one-party caretaker government to take over, according to the parliament speaker. Read more
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“The president must resign, the prime minister must resign and the government must go,” playwright Ruwanti de Chiquera told a news conference at the main protest site in Colombo.
Flanked by other leaders helping to coordinate the movement against the government, she said the crowds would not leave the official residences of the president and prime minister until then.
Although calm returned to the streets of Colombo on Sunday, curious Sri Lankans roamed the ransacked presidential palace throughout the day. Members of the security forces, some with assault rifles, stood outside the compound but did not prevent people from entering.
“I have never seen a place like this in my life,” handkerchief seller BM Chandravati, 61, told Reuters, accompanied by her daughter and grandchildren, as she tried on a plush sofa in a first-floor bedroom.
“They were enjoying super luxuries while we were suffering. We were deceived. I wanted my children and grandchildren to see the luxurious lifestyle they enjoyed.”
Nearby, a group of young men lounged on a four-poster bed, while others jostled for turns on a treadmill set in front of large windows overlooking manicured lawns.
ECONOMIC CRISIS
The political chaos could complicate efforts to pull Sri Lanka out of its worst economic crisis in seven decades, triggered by an acute shortage of foreign currency that has halted imports of essentials such as fuel, food and medicine.
The financial meltdown comes after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the tourism-reliant economy and reduced remittances from foreign workers.
It is compounded by a large and growing national debt, rising oil prices and a seven-month ban on chemical fertilizer imports last year that devastated agriculture.
People cook in the garden of the Prime Minister’s residence the day after demonstrators entered the building, amid the country’s economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 10, 2022. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte
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Gasoline is strictly limited and long queues have formed outside shops selling cooking gas. The government urged people to work from home and closed schools in an attempt to save fuel. Headline inflation in the country of 22 million hit 54.6% last month, and the central bank warned it could rise to 70% in the coming months.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said any government in power would have to “work quickly to try to identify and implement solutions that will restore the prospect of long-term economic stability, address the discontent of the Sri Lankan people, which is so strong and palpable.”
“We would urge the Sri Lankan Parliament to approach this with a commitment to the betterment of the country and not with any political party,” he told a news conference in Bangkok.
India, Sri Lanka’s giant neighbor, which provided about $3.8 billion in support during the crisis, said it was following the developments closely.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is negotiating with the government for a possible $3 billion bailout, also said it was monitoring developments closely.
“We look forward to a resolution of the current situation that will allow for the resumption of our dialogue on an IMF-supported program,” the global lender said in a statement. Read more
WHERE IS PRESIDENT RAJAPAKSA?
Rajapaksa has not been seen in public since Friday and has not said anything directly about his resignation. Wickremesinghe’s office said he would also leave, although neither he nor Rajapaksa could be contacted.
Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yappa Abeywardena said on Saturday that Rajapaksa’s decision to step down was taken “to ensure a peaceful transfer of power”.
Constitutional experts say that if the president and prime minister resign, the next step would be for the speaker to be appointed acting president and for parliament to vote on a new president within 30 days to end Rajapaksa’s term.
Frustration over the economic crisis boiled over on Saturday when a huge crowd of protesters stormed, stormed past armed guards at the colonial-era presidential palace and took it over. Furniture and artefacts were broken and some took the opportunity to have fun in the pool.
They then moved to the office of the president and the official residence of the prime minister. Late in the evening, protesters set fire to Wickremesinghe’s private home.
Neither Rajapaksa nor Wickremesinghe were in their residences when the buildings were attacked.
About 45 people were taken to a main hospital with injuries on Saturday, a hospital official said, but no deaths were reported in the otherwise peaceful takeovers.
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Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe, Devjyot Ghoshal; Written by Sanjiv Miglani and Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by William Mallard, Robert Birsell, Edmund Claman and Alex Richardson
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