Sri Lanka on boil: Mahinda takes shelter at naval base

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa took refuge at a naval base on the northeast coast of the island nation as the fire of deadly protests spread across the country, with thousands of demonstrators defying a nationwide curfew to express anger over the nation’s worst ever economic crisis.

A day earlier, violent clashes left five dead and prompted the resignation of PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is blamed along with his brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, for leading the country into turmoil. A protest began in front of Sri Lanka’s Trincomalee Naval Base after reports emerged that the former prime minister and some of his family members were there after leaving the official residence in Colombo.

Trincomalee is a port city on the northeast coast of Sri Lanka. Thousands of angry protesters stormed Mahinda’s official residence overnight, and he was rescued in a pre-dawn military operation on Tuesday. His son said that Mahinda will not flee the country.

With thousands of security forces enforcing a curfew, the defence ministry said troops “have been ordered to shoot on sight anyone looting public property or causing harm to life”.

Protesters and a key trade group called for a new government to take control of the crisishit country as the president called for calm a day after clashes killed eight people.

With Rajapaksa’s resignation, the cabinet was also dissolved, creating an administrative vacuum. Even though the President has the most power under the constitution, a prime minister and cabinet are needed to manage the government. The prime minister is also the next in line if the presidency falls vacant.

Protesters angered by shortages of fuel, cooking gas and electricity defied the curfew to attack government figures, setting ablaze homes, shops and businesses belonging to ruling party lawmakers and provincial politicians.

Demonstrators on Tuesday swarmed the entrance to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office in the capital for the 32nd day to demand that he follow in his brother’s footsteps and quit.

The Rajapaksa clan’s hold on power has been shaken by months of blackouts and shortages in Sri Lanka, the worst economic crisis since it became independent in 1948. But Monday’s attacks represented a turning point after weeks of peaceful demonstrations.

Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds and declared an immediate curfew in Colombo, a measure later widened to include the entire South Asian nation of 22 million people.

Nearly 200 protesters were injured when government supporters were bussed into Colombo on Monday, and attacked protesters with sticks and clubs.

“We were hit, the media were hit, women and children were hit,” one witness told AFP. The violence saw arson attacks on the homes of several politicians, including the ancestral home of the Rajapaksas in Hambantota.