SRI LANKAN PM RESIGNS IN FACE OF UNREST
Sri Lanka’s prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned Monday with his country in economic free fall, bowing to months of protests in a significant blow to the fortunes of a family dynasty that has dominated the island’s politics for nearly two decades.
Rajapaksa made the move hours after his supporters instigated fierce clashes with government opponents on the streets of Colombo, the capital, a portentous turn in the protracted unrest that left dozens injured and prompted police to call a nationwide curfew.
It was not immediately clear whether Rajapaksa’s decision to resign would satisfy the protesters, who have been demanding the resignation of his younger brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 72, the president and currently the more powerful of the two.
But the concession by the elder Rajapaksa, who is 76, moved the protesters a step closer to their goal of ridding the government of the Rajapaksa family and reversing what they call its ruinous policies, even as the prime minister unleashed violence and chaos on his way out.
The attack by his supporters on the peaceful protesters unleashed widespread violence and anger that continued late into the night Monday.
Mobs surrounded Rajapaksa’s official residence in Colombo and set buses on fire on the streets of the capital. Local news media reported widespread burning of homes and property belonging to members of Rajapaksa’s Cabinet, as well as the ruling family’s ancestral home and their father’s memorial.
“Effective immediately I have tendered my resignation as prime minister to the president,” Rajapaksa, the family patriarch and a former president, said on Twitter.
As food prices have soared and the island of 22 million people has struggled with shortages of basic necessities such as medicine, fuel and electricity, protesters have taken to the streets across the country in largely peaceful demonstrations.