Houston Chronicle Sunday

Sri Lanka’s president, PM agree to resign

- By Krishan Francis

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister agreed to resign Saturday after the country’s most chaotic day in months of political turmoil, with protesters storming both officials’ homes and setting fire to one of the buildings in a rage over the nation’s severe economic crisis.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesi­nghe said he will leave office once a new government is in place, and hours later the speaker of Parliament said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would step down Wednesday. Pressure on both men grew as the economic meltdown set off severe shortages of essential items, leaving people struggling to buy food, fuel and other necessitie­s.

Police had attempted to thwart promised protests with a curfew, then lifted it as lawyers and opposition politician­s denounced it as illegal. Thousands of protesters entered the capital, Colombo, and swarmed into Rajapaksa’s fortified residence. Video images showed jubilant crowds taking a dip in the garden pool. Some people lay on the home’s beds, while others made tea and issued statements from a conference room demanding that the president and prime minister go.

It was not clear if Rajapaksa was there at the time, and government spokesman Mohan Samaranaya­ke said he had no informatio­n about the president’s movements.

Protesters later broke into the prime minister’s private residence and set it on fire, Wickremesi­nghe’s office said. It wasn’t immediatel­y clear if he was there when the incursion happened.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywarden­a said in a televised statement that he informed Rajapaksa that parliament­ary leaders had met and decided to request he leave office, and the president agreed. However Rajapaksa will remain temporaril­y to ensure a smooth transfer of power, Abeywarden­a added.

“He asked me to inform the country that he will make his resignatio­n on Wednesday the 13th, because there is a need to hand over power peacefully,” Abeywarden­a said.

“Therefore there is no need for further disturbanc­es in the country, and I urge everyone for the sake of the country to maintain peace to enable a smooth transition,” the speaker continued.

Opposition lawmaker Rauff Hakeem said a consensus was reached for the speaker of Parliament to take over as temporary president and work on an interim government.

Wickremesi­nghe announced his own impending resignatio­n but said he would not step down until a new government is formed, angering protesters who demanded his immediate departure.

Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesi­nghe as prime minister in May in the hope that the career politician would use his diplomacy and contacts to resuscitat­e a collapsed economy. But people’s patience wore thin as shortages of fuel, medicine and cooking gas only increased and oil reserves ran dry.

The country is relying on aid from India and other nations as leaders try to negotiate a bailout with the Internatio­nal Monetary Fund.

 ?? Amitha Thennakoon/Associated Press ?? A man throws a tear gas canister after it was fired by police to disperse protesters Saturday in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Amitha Thennakoon/Associated Press A man throws a tear gas canister after it was fired by police to disperse protesters Saturday in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States