In Sri Lanka’s commercial capital Colombo, thousands of protesters broke police barricades and stormed the president’s official residence on Saturday in one of the biggest anti-government marches in the troubled country.
Some protesters, holding Sri Lankan flags and helmets, broke into the President’s residence, video footage from local TV news Newsfirst channel shown.
Two Defense Ministry sources said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was removed from the official premises on Friday for his security ahead of the weekend rally.
A Facebook livestream from inside the president’s home showed hundreds of protesters, some clad in flags, packed into rooms and corridors, shouting slogans against Rajapaksa.
Hundreds of people mingled on the grounds outside the colonial-era whitewashed building. There was no security officer in sight.
Hospital sources said at least 21 people, including two policemen, were injured and admitted to the hospital in the ongoing protests. Reuters,
The island of 22 million people is grappling with a severe foreign exchange crunch that has limited essential imports of fuel, food and medicine, leaving it in a worst-case scenario. Economic Crisis Since independence in 1948.
Many blame President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the country’s decline. Massive peaceful protests since the march have led to calls for his resignation.
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Thousands of people in Colombo’s government district shouted slogans against the president and broke several police barricades to reach Rajapaksa’s home. Reuters The witness said.
The witness said the police opened fire in the air, but failed to stop the angry mob from around the presidential residence.
Reuters The whereabouts of the president could not be immediately confirmed.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called an emergency meeting of political party leaders after protesters stormed the Rashtrapati Bhavan. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said he also requested the Speaker to convene Parliament.
Transport services have come to a standstill despite a severe fuel shortage, with protesters arriving from several parts of the country in buses, trains and trucks to protest the government’s failure to save them from economic ruin.
Discontent has escalated in recent weeks as the cash-starved country has stopped receiving fuel shipments, forcing schools to close and rationing petrol and diesel for essential services.
37-year-old fisherman Sampath Perera took an overcrowded bus from the seaside town of Negombo, 45 km north of Colombo, to join the protest.
“We have repeatedly asked Gota to go home but he is still in power. We will not stop till he listens to us,” Pereira said.
He is among the millions who have been battling fuel shortages and inflation, which peaked at 54.6 per cent in June, for a long time.
Political instability may weaken Sri Lanka Talks Seeking a $3 billion bailout with the International Monetary Fund, restructuring of some foreign debt and fundraising from multilateral and bilateral sources to ease the dollar drought.