PremiumCrisis in Sri Lanka Live Updates: Sri Lanka declared a nationwide state of emergency hours after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives, leading to more protests amid an economic crisis.
Sri Lanka Economic Crisis Live Updates: The country of 22 million population has suffered months of lengthy blackouts, acute food and fuel shortages and galloping inflation.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has authorised the prime minister to carry out presidential duties, the speaker of parliament said on Wednesday after the president fled to the Maldives amid protests. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said Rajapaksa notified him of the change.
Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has said that the prime minister can become the acting president only if the president has appointed him. In a series of tweets, he wrote, “PM becomes acting President only if the President appoints him as such, or if the office of President is vacant, or if the CJ in consultation with the Speaker forms the view that the President is unable to act." “In the absence of any of these, the PM cannot exercise the powers of President, and cannot declare curfew or a state of emergency," he further added.
Sri Lankan Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa has called a meeting on Tuesday regarding his candidature for the post of the country's President. Several Members of Parliaments (MPs) from other parties also attended the meeting including Independent MP Anura Priyadharshana Yapa. Regarding Premdasa's candidature for the President's post, Yapa said that he is not bad but we are here to get consensus from all the parties before announcing the president face in the country. "We're meeting to get an idea on how to elect the next president of the country. Many parties are discussing to create a consensus. It's important to achieve it. Sajith Premadasa was 2nd in the last elections so we spoke to him," Independent MP Yapa said.
Sri Lankan Opposition MP Patali Champika Ranawaka said that president left country without signing resignation. The speaker and whole country hoped that he would send his resignation properly, so that within next week we can elect another president. It's up to Parliament. “Next President will be for an interim period. They're not going to contest elections next time. LoP Sajith Premadasa has shown his intention for same. Presidential elections can't be held at this juncture, as per the constitution it should be in held 2024," he further added.
Shortly after Sri Lanka's Parliament Speaker said that he is yet to receive Gotabaya Rajapaksa's letter of resignation, thousands of protestors took to the street and some of them stormed the Prime Minister's residence in Colombo demanding the President and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to quit. Dramatic visuals came from Sri Lankan PM's house where a huge military is present inside the house to prevent the protesters from coming inside the house but failed to do. Even they used tear gas to disperse them. The protestors are protesting against the Prime Minister who is tipped to be appointed as the acting president.
According to Sri Lankan Constitution, when there is no President, the PM will be appointed as the acting President but the protesters are not happy with this decision and this is the reason they are demanding Wickremesinghe to resign. Former Advisor to Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs ministry said, "We want the PM to resign because as per our constitution if the President resigns PM becomes the acting President. People want both of them to leave. Police took action by tear gas shelling. Army troops moved in."
Protesters have been demanding Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to resign after the news came in that President Rajapaksa had left for the Maldives. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe declared a state of emergency as several hundred people surrounded his office in Colombo trying to breach the compound past police in riot gear, climbing the fences. Police fired several rounds of teargas and a military helicopter circled overhead.
As protests grew louder over the devastating economic crisis in Sri Lanka, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had to resign today flew out of the country and landed in Maldives in the wee hours today. Earlier this week, Rajapaksa had fled his residence to shift to a safe location as demonstrators stormed his official residence in Colombo. The Sri Lankan citizens have continued to demand the resignation of President Rajapaksa, whose government has been blamed for the chronic mismanagement of the country's finances. On Saturday, Rajapaksa had announced to step down on Wednesday after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence, blaming him for the unprecedented economic crisis that has brought the country to its knees
India on Wednesday categorically denied "baseless and speculative" media reports that it facilitated the travel of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled to the Maldives on a military jet in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the country's economy.
The 73-year-old Sri Lankan President fled the country along with his wife and two security officers on a military jet on Wednesday.
"The High Commission categorically denies baseless and speculative media reports that India facilitated the recent reported travel of @gotabayar @Realbrajapaksa out of Sri Lanka," the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka tweeted.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe declared a state of emergency as several hundred people surrounded his office in Colombo trying to breach the compound past police in riot gear, climbing the fences. Police fired several rounds of teargas and a military helicopter circled overhead. "The prime minister as acting president has declared a state of emergency (countrywide) and imposed a curfew in the western province," Wickremesinghe's media secretary, Dinouk Colombage, told Reuters. Western Province includes Colombo.
Crisis-hit Sri Lanka declared a nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday, hours after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country, the Prime Minister's office said. "Since the president is out of the country, an emergency has been declared to deal with the situation in the country," Prime Minister's spokesman Dinouk Colombage said.
The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early Wednesday, days after protesters stormed his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister amid a three-month economic crisis that triggered severe shortages of food and fuel. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane bound for the city of Male, the capital of the Maldives, according to an immigration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
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