Sri Lanka woke on Sunday to an uncertain future, with both its President and Prime Minister set to step down after thousands of protesters stormed their homes in fury over the nation’s crippling economic crisis.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has agreed to resign on July 13, the speaker of the country’s parliament announced late Saturday, following a tumultuous day that saw protesters break into Rajapaksa’s official residence in Colombo and splash around in his swimming pool.
Protesters also targeted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, setting on fire his private residence on Fifth Lane, an affluent neighborhood in the capital.
Wickremesinghe later said he was willing to resign “to make way for an all-party government.”
The announcements — which protesters celebrated by singing on the streets and setting off fireworks — marked a historic victory for the protesters, who have been demanding Rajapaksa’s resignation for months over his government’s failure to address the country’s economic collapse.
The economic turmoil has plunged the Indian Ocean island nation of 22 million into a dire humanitarian crisis, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine and fuel.
After months of largely peaceful protests, anger reached tipping point on Saturday, as more than 100,000 people massed outside Rajapaksa’s residence, calling for his resignation.
Video broadcast on Sri Lankan television and on social media showed the protesters enter the President’s House — Rajapaksa’s office and residence after breaking through security cordons. Images show demonstrators inside the whitewashed colonial-era building and hanging banners from the balcony.
Later on Saturday, live video streamed by local media and seen by CNN showed Wickremesinghe’s home engulfed in flames as crowds gathered around.
Neither the President nor Prime Minister were at their residences when the buildings were breached. Both had been moved to secure locations prior to the attacks, according to security officials.
Saturday’s drastic escalation of unrest could spell the end of the Rajapaksa family’s political dynasty, which has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades.
Advertisements
