Mass protest in Lanka against PM’s sacking Wickremesinghe’s supporters allege that it was a coup by President Sirisena
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Colombo on Tuesday at a mass rally organised by ousted Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s party against what it said was a “coup” by President Maithripala Sirisena, amid efforts by opposing sides to secure their numbers in Parliament to end the country’s political crisis.
Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) demanded that Parliament be convened immediately and democracy restored.
Wickremesinghe said that President Maithripala Sirisena had assumed he would get his way.
However, he said the UNP and its partners in the United National Front will not give up and will continue to push for Parliament to convene immediately.
Sri Lanka, a Buddhist-majority nation in the Indian Ocean, was plunged into chaos on Friday when Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe as prime minister in a surprise move. He also suspended Parliament in an apparent bid to shore up support for newly-appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Sirisena is under increasing political and diplomatic pressure to reconvene Parliament and resolve the Constitutional crisis.
Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) is set to hold a protest on Tuesday in the capital, Colombo.
Earlier, ahead of the rally, Champika Ranawaka, a former minister said, “We are calling upon all sections of the society who believe in democracy and rule of law to gather and protest”.