Under pressure from the street, the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and his Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinga, have fled and promised to resign in the coming days.
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After a new night of occupation of the presidential palace in calm by the population, despite rumors of intervention by the army, the Sri Lankans still retained their breath on Monday, July 11. Their country, where shortages make life impossible, switched to the unknown on Saturday when the demonstrators stormed the symbols of power, in Colombo. However, if the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, now on the run, announced in the process that he would leave power four days later, and that Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinga, proposed to do the same, none of the two men has not yet resigned.
m. Rajapaksa took refuge in a secret place, after being forced to flee his residence in Colombo, the capital, invaded by the crowd on Saturday. Since then, the strong man of Sri Lanka has not spoken and announced his intention to leave power by the voice of the President of the Parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, then of the Prime Minister’s office on Monday.
After more than three months of contestation, the news of these resignations already has a perfume of victory, despite the doubts that remain. “I am very proud of what the Sri Lankan people have accomplished, we are overthrowing the government, but the time is not yet for the celebrations,” warns Hiranya Cooray, a thirty-something Colombo, attached by phone . Due to the fuel shortages that strike the island, it has traveled 10 kilometers to participate in the demonstration organized on Saturday in the capital.
Sri Lanka is going through an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, attributed to the Rajapaka clan, which has dominated political life for almost two decades. Pushed to the end by months of deprivation on Saturday, tens of thousands of Sri Lankans flocked to Colombo, to participate in a day of decisive mobilization. They arrived by bus, train, bicycle or even on foot, determined to go to the capital to ask, as they have been doing since the end of March, the resignation of the president, Gotabaya Rajapaka.
Unpublished, Crowd and Dramatic show
At midday, the demonstrators forced the police barricades and burst into the palace, then in the office of the president and in the official residence of the Prime Minister. The head of state had to flee and was placed in a safe place, under the protection of the army. His brother Mahinda Rajapaksa had suffered a similar fate in May, after having resigned from his functions as Prime Minister. When he was elected, in November 2019, Gotabaya Rajapaksa locked power, installing his clan at the controls of the country. He is the only one to be still in office.
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