The situation is escalating in Sri Lanka. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his palace in the capital Colombo on Saturday a few minutes before it was stormed by hundreds of demonstrators accusing him of being responsible for the catastrophic economic crisis that the country is going through. He will resign next week, July 13, “to ensure a peaceful transition”, announced in the evening the speaker of parliament, Mahinda Abeywardana.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is therefore next in line, had earlier called an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss a “swift resolution” to the crisis. He said he was ready to resign to make way for a government of national unity. A crowd of demonstrators stormed his residence, before setting it on fire.
Earlier Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people were gathered in the streets around the presidential palace, according to police estimates, while several hundred managed to enter the residence, just after the president fled. “The president has been escorted to a safe place,” a defense source told AFP. “He is still the president, he is protected by a military unit,” added this source, according to which the soldiers guarding the official residence fired in the air to dissuade the demonstrators from approaching until Gotabaya Rajapaksa was removed. evacuated.
In the presidential pool
Local television channels showed images of hundreds of people climbing the gates of the presidential palace, a building dating from the colonial era, located by the sea and symbol of power in Sri Lanka. Some protesters streamed videos live on social media showing a crowd milling around inside the palace, some even taking a dip in the presidential swimming pool or lying amusedly in the bedrooms of the residence. The protesters also took over the offices of the presidency, located nearby and in front of which demonstrators have been camping for three months.
Three people injured by gunshot
Tens of thousands of people had earlier taken part in demonstrations to demand the resignation of the president, blamed for the unprecedented crisis which hits Sri Lanka and causes galloping inflation as well as serious shortages of fuel, electricity and electricity. food. The United Nations estimates in particular that around 80% of the population skips meals to cope with shortages and soaring prices.
The police tried to disperse the huge crowd gathered in the administrative district of the capital. The main hospital in Colombo reported three people injured by gunshots and 36 others suffering from breathing difficulties due to the massive use of tear gas.
A major crisis in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka defaulted in April on its $51 billion foreign debt, and began bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund.
This crisis, of an unprecedented scale since the country’s independence in 1948, is attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic which deprived this island of 22 million inhabitants of the currencies of the tourist sector and was aggravated by a series bad policy decisions, say economists.
On Friday, the police had imposed a curfew to try to discourage protesters from taking to the streets. But the measure was lifted after threats of legal action against the police chief from opposition parties, human rights activists and the country’s bar association. The curfew had been largely ignored by protesters anyway, some of whom even forced railway authorities on Saturday to take them by train to Colombo to take part in the rally.
Even as the country has nearly exhausted its meager petrol reserves, protesters, backed by the main opposition parties, have also hired private buses to travel to the capital. According to the authorities, some 20,000 soldiers and police had been dispatched to Colombo to protect the president.