Sri Lanka: Prime minister resigns after protesters storm president’s palace

 

Sri Lanka: Prime minister resigns after protesters storm president’s palace

 

Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has agreed to resign to make way for an all-party government amid protests at the president’s palace in Colombo.

According to Dinouk Colambage, the prime minister's spokesperson, Mr. Wickremesinghe informed party leaders that he will step down once all parties have agreed to create a new government.

 

Angry citizens protesting the government's handling of the nation's debilitating economic situation stormed the Presidential Palace.

 

 

Before demonstrators gathered in the compound to demand his resignation, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left his official residence in Colombo, a defense source told AFP.

 

 

 

On Saturday, the leaders of the political parties were called to an urgent meeting by the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

 

 

 

His office claimed in a statement released on Saturday afternoon that he has agreed to resign in response to requests from party leaders in Parliament.

 

As demonstrators surrounded the official home and proceeded approached the main gates, police had earlier sprayed tear gas at them. Eventually, the demonstrators managed to scale the barriers and enter the home.

 

Due to a severe lack of necessities like fuel, cooking gas, and medicines brought on by the economic crisis, consumers must wait in long queues to purchase scarce commodities. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime minister of Sri Lanka, declared the collapse of the nation's economy last month.

 

Because the government has now begun negotiations as a bankrupt state, negotiations with the IMF have proven to be difficult, according to the AP.

 

Sri Lanka declared in April that it will put off repaying its international debt because of a lack of foreign cash.

 

Its entire foreign debt is $51 billion (£42 billion), of which $28 billion (£23 billion) must be repaid by the end of 2027.

 

Police imposed a curfew in Colombo and several other main urban areas on Friday night but withdrew it Saturday morning amid objections by lawyers and opposition politicians who called it illegal.

 

Riot police and army personnel are deployed in the city, and the area surrounding the president’s official residence is heavily barricaded.