Calm returned to the streets of Sri Lanka’s commercial and administrative capital yesterday and protesters were jubilant as Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa agreed to resign after his house in Colombo was stormed amid outrage over the South Asia nation’s collapsing economy.
Protesters, many wrapped in Sri Lanka’s national flag, swarmed into his whitewashed colonial-era residence on Saturday, jumped into the swimming pool and sat on a four-poster bed.
About 45 people were admitted to a main hospital later that day, a hospital official said, but there were no reports of any deaths.
Photo: Reuters
On Sunday, amazed civilians took the opportunity to inspect the building.
Members of the security forces, some with assault rifles, stood outside the compound, but did not stop people going in.
Among those taking a look was 61-year-old handkerchief seller B.M. Chandrawathi, who sauntered into a first-floor bedroom accompanied by her daughter and grandchildren.
“I’ve never seen a place like this in my life,” Chandrawathi told reporters as she tried out a plush sofa.
“They enjoyed super luxury while we suffered,” she said. “We were hoodwinked. I wanted my kids and grandkids to see the luxurious lifestyles they were enjoying.”
Others set fire to the private home of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who also agreed to resign to make way for an all-party government.
Rajapaksa, a by many deemed a hero of the quarter-century civil war against Tamil rebels, plans to resign on Wednesday, Sri Lankan Legislative Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said.
Abeywardena said that Rajapaksa’s decision to step down was taken “to ensure a peaceful handover of power.”
Thousands had descended on the seaside city demanding Rajapaksa resign after months of mismanaging the crisis, a dramatic escalation of largely peaceful anti-government protests.
The nation of 22 million people is short of food and fuel, and inflation hit a record 54.6 percent last month.
Sri Lanka’s economic crisis developed after the COVID-19 pandemic hammered the tourism-reliant economy and slashed remittances from overseas workers.
It has been compounded by large and growing government debt, rising oil prices and a ban on importing chemical fertilizers that in the middle of last year devastated the agricultural sector. The fertilizer ban was reversed in November last year.
Rajapaksa’s “decision to step down on 13 July was taken to ensure a peaceful handover of power,” Abeywardena said in a video statement on Saturday. “I therefore request the public to respect the law and maintain peace.”
Wickremesinghe, a six-time prime minister also seen as part of an uncaring ruling elite, agreed to step down, his office said.
Local news channels showed a huge fire and smoke coming from his home in an affluent Colombo suburb.
Neither Rajapaksa nor Wickremesinghe were in their residences when the buildings were attacked.
Rajapaksa had left on Friday as a precaution before the planned demonstration, two sources in the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense said.
Reuters could not immediately confirm his whereabouts.
Details of a transition of power were not yet clear. The speaker had outlined proposals from a Saturday meeting of political parties that would include parliament picking an acting president within a week.
The IMF, which has been in talks with the Rajapaksa administration for a possible US$3 billion bailout, yesterday said it was monitoring the situation closely.
“We hope for a resolution of the current situation that will allow for resumption of our dialogue on an IMF-supported program,” the global lender said in a statement.
It said it was deeply concerned about the effects of the economic crisis on the people.
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