Sri Lanka news

2022 - 7 - 10

Post cover — Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

Sri Lanka protests: thousands storm president's residence in Colombo (The Guardian)

Demonstrators break in shouting slogans against Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who has been moved for his safety.

However, despite mass protests and enduring public calls for the president to resign, he has so far refused. Images from the scene showed protesters flooding up the grand staircase of the colonial-era building chanting calls for the president to go. According to the defence ministry, Rajapaksa had been relocated from the house on Friday and taken into military protection over concerns that the planned protest would escalate.

Sri Lanka protesters break into President's House as thousands rally ... (CNN)

Protesters broke into the Sri Lankan leader's official residence in Colombo on Saturday as more than 100000 amassed outside, according to police, ...

Schools have been suspended and fuel has been limited to essential services. A police curfew that was earlier imposed in several police divisions in the Western Province of Sri Lanka was lifted on Saturday. Several politicians and the Bar Association in Sri Lanka referred to the curfew as being "illegal," saying there had been no instances of violence to justify imposing the measure. At least 31 people, including two police officers, have been injured in the protests and are receiving treatment, according to the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL). Two of the injured are in critical condition, according to police.

Sri Lankan demonstrators enter president's residence amid ... (NPR)

Thousands of people demonstrated in the capital against the island nation's worst economic crisis in recent memory and demanded President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ...

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What to know about the upheaval in Sri Lanka (The Washington Post)

Sri Lanka's president is set to resign after demonstrators stormed his home and office Saturday to protest the government's handling of a dire economic ...

Sri Lanka's president: Civil war victor brought down by protests (Aljazeera.com)

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa did not start out in life as a politician, unlike his elder brother Mahinda.

Hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and populist tax cuts, Sri Lanka fell into its worst economic crisis since the end of colonial rule. Taking early retirement he emigrated to the United States, where he worked in information technology. Local armed groups allegedly affiliated with ISIL (ISIS) were blamed for the attacks. He reappointed Mahinda as prime minister and a slew of other relatives into ministerial roles, cementing the Rajapaksa family as one of the most dominant in Sri Lanka’s post-independence history. His campaign was little affected by two lawsuits in the United States that accused him of involvement in the abduction and murder of a journalist, as well as being complicit in the torture of a man belonging to the ethnic Tamil community. After the dramatic storming of the president’s official residence by thousands of protesters on Saturday, the speaker of parliament said in a video statement that Rajapaksa had informed him that he would step down on July 13.

Sri Lanka's president to step down, says parliamentary speaker (RNZ)

The announcement came after thousands of protesters stormed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's residence in Colombo, following months of protests over his ...

The speaker can appoint a new all-party government but whether they will be accepted by the protesters remains to be seen," said political analyst Kusal Perera. "The president and the prime minister must resign immediately. The fertiliser ban was reversed in November. "The decision to step down on 13 July was taken to ensure a peaceful handover of power," Abeywardena said. "Wickremesinghe has told the party leaders that he is willing to resign as Prime Minister and make way for an all-party government to take over," his office said in a statement. The parliamentary speaker, Abeywardena, said in a letter to Rajapaksa that several decisions had been made at the meeting of party leaders - including the president and the prime minister resigning as soon as possible and parliament being called within seven days to select an acting president.