Colombo, July 10: Protesters, who have forcefully occupied the private residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, made his home a picnic spot by playing carrom board, sleeping on the sofa, enjoying in park premises and preparing food for dinner.
They have already announced that they have no plans to leave the residence until Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe resign from their posts.
In the viral clips doing rounds on social media sites, people can be seen playing carrom board inside the Temple Tree which is also known as the Sri Lankan PM residence. A sea of protesters and locals can be seen inside the park.
#WATCH | Sri Lanka: Inside visuals from 'Temple Tree' official residence of Sri Lankan PM, where protestors are playing carrom, lying leisurely & loitering in the premises
— ANI (@ANI) July 10, 2022
Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe's residence was stormed by a sea of protestors, yesterday pic.twitter.com/c0HdfO4t6K
"We the protestors have started cooking, we are inside the PM's house. We have struggled for the resignation of PM Wickremesinghe and President Rajapaksa. We will only leave the premises when they will resign," a protestor said inside Sri Lankan PM's house to ANI.
#WATCH | Sri Lanka: Protestors start preparing & cooking food inside the premises of the residence of the Sri Lankan PM, in Colombo, as they continue to remain there amid ongoing protests against the country's financial turmoil#SriLankaEconomicCrisis pic.twitter.com/6kHuo2bgcY
— ANI (@ANI) July 10, 2022
On Saturday, the protesters stormed into President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official home and later broke into Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's private residence before setting it on fire.
#WATCH | Sri Lanka: Protestors start preparing & cooking food inside the premises of the residence of the Sri Lankan PM, in Colombo, as they continue to remain there amid ongoing protests against the country's financial turmoil#SriLankaEconomicCrisis pic.twitter.com/6kHuo2bgcY
— ANI (@ANI) July 10, 2022
Sri Lanka is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, crippled by an acute shortage of foreign exchange that has left it struggling to pay for essential imports of fuel, and other essentials.