Sri Lanka Crisis Live Updates: President, PM To Resign Amid Massive Protests
The protesters also torched the private residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe even after he offered to resign.
President Rajapaksa has agreed to step down on July 13 (FIle)
Colombo:
Thousands of anti-government protesters in Sri Lanka on Saturday barged into embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official residence in central Colombo's high-security Fort area after breaking the barricades, as they demanded his resignation over the island nation's worst economic crisis in recent memory.
The protesters also torched the private residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe even after he offered to resign.
Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena told reporters on Saturday night that President Rajapaksa had agreed to step down on July 13. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said he would resign as soon as an all-party government was ready to take over.
Sri Lanka's inflation topped 50 per cent in June after two years of money printing and an attempted float botched with a surrender requirement which sent the rupee sliding to 360 to the US dollar from 200.
Here are the LIVE updates on Sri Lanka Crisis:
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Jul 10, 2022 12:33 (IST)
Three arrested for setting fire to Prime Minister's Residence
Sri Lankan police on Sunday arrested three people for setting Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's private residence on fire a day earlier, amidst massive anti-government protests, media reports said.
A group of irate protesters on Saturday entered Wickremesinghe's private residence at Cambridge Place here and set it on fire amid a massive public protest in the country over the unprecedented economic crisis.
Jul 10, 2022 12:09 (IST)
Lanka President's Whereabouts Not Known, Protesters Still At His Residence
The anti-government protesters in Sri Lanka on Sunday continued to occupy the residences of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, a day after they barged into the premises and set on fire one of the buildings protesting over the nation's severe economic crisis even as the island nation is still in the dark about the embattled President's whereabouts. Read Here
Jul 10, 2022 11:15 (IST)
Protesters find millions of rupees from Gotabaya Rajapaksa's house: Report
Protesters who stormed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's house on Saturday amid the country's worst economic crisis claimed to have recovered a large sum of money from the mansion, local media reported.
According to Sri Lanka's daily newspaper, Daily Mirror, it was reported that the recovered money was handed over to the security units.
Several dramatic videos have been doing the rounds on social media after Saturday's upheaval where thousands of protesters stormed his official residence in the capital of Colombo, forcing him to flee to an unknown location.
Jul 10, 2022 10:13 (IST)
US Urges Sri Lanka Leaders To Work "Quickly" To Achieve Economic Stability
The United States on Sunday urged Sri Lankan leaders to act quickly to seek long-term solutions after the president was chased from his residence and announced his resignation. Any new government should "work quickly to identify and implement solutions that will achieve long-term economic stability and address the Sri Lankan people's discontent," a State Department spokesperson said. Read More
Jul 10, 2022 09:29 (IST)
"Deeply Concerned": IMF Closely Monitoring Sri Lanka Situation
The IMF on Sunday said that it was closely monitoring the ongoing developments in Sri Lanka and hoped that the political crisis will be resolved soon to allow for the resumption of dialogue on an IMF-supported programme in the cash-starved country. Read More
Jul 10, 2022 09:03 (IST)
How Sri Lankan Protests Unfolded
A deep financial crisis has left Sri Lanka struggling to pay for imports of food, medicine and fuel and brought thousands of protesters on to the streets. On Saturday, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the speaker of parliament he would step down next week. Read More
