Sri Lanka Prime Minister resigns as mob violence sweeps country
Sri lanka’s outgoing Prime Minister was yesterday holed up in his official residence after thousands of angry protesters broke through the main gate.
The country was on the brink of collapse as mob violence swept through it. A day of turmoil saw an MP take his own life after killing a protester, several politicians’ homes set alight and a museum dedicated to the leader’s family razed to the ground.
In Colombo, police fired shots in the air and tear gas to prevent demonstrators from reaching Mahinda Rajapaksa in his Colombo complex just hours after he quit as PM.
Officials said the military deployed hundreds of troops to guard him and his aides as protesters defied an indefinite curfew declared earlier in the day to maintain their siege on his residence.
Rajapaksa handed in his resignation after a pro-government mob armed with clubs attacked antigovernment protesters in Colombo, injuring over 150 people.
The incident caused widespread discontent over a major economic crisis that has been bubbling for weeks to boil over. The homes, offices and vehicles of at least five ruling party MPs believed to have either been involved in or in support of the attack were torched in retribution.
Dozens of buses used by Rajapaksa loyalists to travel to Colombo earlier in the day were also destroyed or damaged. In the suburb of Maharagama, mobs ordered the leader of the group out of the bus and tossed him into a garbage cart, before smashing the vehicle with a bulldozer. Violence across the country led to at least five people dying yesterday, police said, as the situation threatened to spiral into anarchy.
One MP, Amarakeerthi Athukorala, allegedly killed one person after he shot at anti-government protesters that were blocking his car in the town of Nittambuwa, some 40km outside Colombo. He later killed himself as well after being cornered by a mob. “The MP fled the scene and took refuge at a nearby building. Thousands surrounded the building and he then took his own life with his revolver,” a police spokesperson said.
Two more people died in the southern town of Weeraketiya after a ruling-party politician opened fire on anti-government protesters, officers said. Sri Lanka’s Army was deployed on to the streets amid fears of further violence.
The past few weeks have seen Sri Lanka brought to a standstill by peaceful nationwide protests, demanding regime change as the country continues to endure the worst economic crisis in its history, with residents unable to purchase food, fuel or essential medicines.
Yesterday’s nationwide unrest was sparked after a mob attacked protesters who had peacefully been demanding regime change over a cost of living crisis. Police looked on as the mob injured 150 people and destroyed Colombo’s Galle Face protest site.
Unable to import enough essential goods from abroad, rampant inflation has caused the price of essential foodstuffs like rice to triple since January.