Sri Lanka imposes state of emergency after president flees country

Protesters storm Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office demanding his resignation after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country amid the economic crisis (Photo: AP)
Protesters storm Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office demanding his resignation after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country amid the economic crisis (Photo: AP)

Summary

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is supposed to resign, also ordered a curfew as angry protesters surrounded his office

COLOMBO (SRI LANKA) : Sri Lanka’s president fled the country and appointed the prime minister as acting leader, the speaker of parliament said, as protesters breached the prime minister’s office and the island was placed under a state of emergency.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left Sri Lanka on a military aircraft bound for the Maldives in the early hours of Wednesday morning with his wife and two bodyguards, the country’s air force and an immigration official said. He had been due to formally resign that day to make way for an interim all-party government. The prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has also said he would resign.

The developments were met with anger from demonstrators who for months have been protesting the government’s handling of Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in decades. Army helicopters flew overhead and police deployed water cannons and tear gas but were unable to hold back hordes of protesters from storming inside the prime minister’s office, in scenes reminiscent of Saturday’s popular uprising that saw thousands occupy the president’s official residence, his oceanfront office, and the prime minister’s home. Also on Wednesday, Sri Lanka’s state broadcaster temporarily halted transmission after protesters entered the studio during a live broadcast.

The parliamentary speaker, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, a Rajapaksa ally who has served as a conduit for communications from the president in recent days, said the president had appointed Mr. Wickremesinghe to act on his behalf while out of the country. Sri Lanka’s constitution permits such an appointment. In a subsequent statement, the speaker said the president had reiterated his intention to step down and would submit his resignation letter by the end of Wednesday, and that a new president would be elected on July 20.

Earlier on Wednesday, as protesters lay siege to his office, Mr. Wickremesinghe declared a countrywide state of emergency and a curfew in Colombo and its surrounding province, while ordering the arrest of anyone engaging in riotous behavior. However, in confusion emblematic of the uncertainty over who is in charge, opposition politicians questioned his authority to do so.

Sri Lanka has declared emergencies and imposed curfews several times in recent months in an attempt to curb protests and restore order, to little effect.

Mr. Rajapaksa has been out of public view and has remained silent since the parliamentary speaker said on Saturday that the president had informed him of his intention to resign. The country’s economic crisis has intensified accusations of nepotism and corruption from protesters and political opponents, which he denies; upon stepping down, Mr. Rajapaksa would no longer enjoy immunity from prosecution.

The speaker on Sunday told the BBC that the president had left the country for a short visit. But on Monday, in a subsequent interview with The Wall Street Journal, he said he had been mistaken, and that while a signed letter from the president would suffice for a resignation, he expected Mr. Rajapaksa to be in Colombo to resign in person on Wednesday.

The Maldives foreign ministry had no comment, a spokesman said. A spokesman for the Maldives president, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, didn’t immediately respond to queries

The coronavirus pandemic decimated Sri Lanka’s tourism earnings, compounding a precarious financial position that stemmed from its accumulation of debt on infrastructure spending and sweeping tax cuts that drained government revenue, as well as a ban on chemical fertilizers that shrank crop output.

The economic pain of recent months saw Sri Lanka struggle to import fuel as its foreign reserves dwindled to near zero, leading to hourslong queues at pumps, blackouts and rationing. The crisis has steadily chipped away at the Rajapaksa family’s grip on power. Another brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was serving as prime minister, resigned in May, the month the country defaulted on its sovereign debt.

Early Tuesday, Basil Rajapaksa, the former finance minister and brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, sought to board an Emirates flight to the U.S., via Dubai, through a VIP departure lounge at Colombo’s main international airport, immigration officials said. But in a show of how far public sentiment has soured against the Rajapaksa family, staff at the lounge walked off the job, leaving the former minister unable to clear immigration, immigration officials said. Basil Rajapaksa didn’t respond to requests for comment, and his current whereabouts is unclear.

 

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