Sri Lanka: Protesters Storm President’s Residence, Office
Protestors in Sri Lanka demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resign forced their way into his official residence and nearby office on Saturday, local television reports said.
Thousands of people were demonstrating in the capital, Colombo, against the island nation’s worst economic crisis in recent memory.
A government spokesperson, Mohana Samaranayake, said he had no information about whether Rajapaksa had left the residence.
Protestors, some carrying national flags, also entered the president’s office in another nearby building.
Demonstrators had occupied the entrance to Rajapaksa’s office building for the past three months calling on him to step down.
Security personnel tried to stop protesters at the president’s office, but they passed through the fences and stormed the Parliament building, which has been converted into the president’s office.
At least 34 people including two police officers were wounded in clashes as protesters tried to enter the residence.
Last month, Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the country’s economy has collapsed.
The country’s facing an acute foreign currency shortage, and in April, Sri Lanka announced it is suspending repaying foreign loans.
Its total foreign debt amounts to $51 billion of which it must repay $28 billion by the end of 2027.
The Rajapaksa political dynasty that has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades has been nearly dismantled by the protests.
One of Rajapaksa’s brothers resigned as prime minister last month, and two other brothers and a nephew quit their Cabinet posts earlier but the president has clung to power.
Wickremesinghe took over as prime minister in May and protests temporarily subsided.
Protestors now want him to resign too saying he has failed to fulfil his promises.
