Rally brings chaos on Colombo streets
◗ The rival Prime Ministers have now spent nearly two weeks at loggerheads, and the move has triggered a constitutional crisis
neither has won a vote of confidence.
The rival Prime Ministers have now spent nearly two weeks at loggerheads, and the move — which has been described as illegal by opponents — has triggered a constitutional crisis.
Protesters had initially planned to drive to the residence of Parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to urge him to defy the President and lift the Assembly suspension.
But amid traffic chaos, the route was shortened and the rally was staged at Independence Square.
The motorists displayed posters of Mr Wickremesinghe and carried banners which read “People Power”.
The US embassy in Colombo issued a security alert warning of traffic hold ups.
“The embassy reminds citizens that even events intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and escalate into violence,” it said.
One man was killed and two others wounded in a shooting linked to the constitutional crisis last month.
The power struggle has paralysed much of the administration, according to legislators on both sides of the dispute.
Mr Rajapaksa is reportedly trying to engineer defections to ensure he has a majority in the 225 member Assembly which Mr Sirisena has said can only reopen on November 14. Mr Sirisena has filled only 22 of 30 Cabinet positions — purposefully keeping some jobs vacant to tempt legislators of Mr Wickremesinghe’s party to defect to Mr Rajapaksa’s side.