Today, thousands of protesters gathered in the president’s palace in Colombo, the country’s capital, in protest of how the administration has handled the country’s economic crisis.
Thousands of enraged protesters broke over police barricades and charged into the presidential compound and the president of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office adjacent, turning the scheduled event, one of the largest anti-government marches in the crisis-ridden nation this year, violent.
Video from the local TV news NewsFirst station revealed that several demonstrators stormed into the president’s mansion while carrying Sri Lankan flags and helmets, even going so far as to swim in the pool.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was reportedly removed from the house on Friday for his protection ahead of the scheduled demonstration over the weekend, according to two officials in the defence ministry. Government spokesperson Mohan Samaranayake was not aware of Rajapaksa’s location.
The 22 million-person island is experiencing its biggest economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948 as a result of a severe foreign exchange shortage that has restricted imports of gasoline, food, and medication.
As the nation struggles to survive with help from India and other nations and its officials attempt to arrange a bailout with the International Monetary Fund, many blame President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the country’s decline.
In May, the president’s older brother, who had fled to a naval station for protection due to violent demonstrations, resigned from his position as prime minister; three other Rajapaksa family had already left their positions in the Cabinet.
According to a recent statement from his office, his successor, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, has notified party leaders that he is prepared to step down from his position to make room for an all-party administration.
The Rajapaksa family has come under heavy criticism from the public, with demonstrators accusing them of mismanaging the country and causing disorder via claims of corruption and nepotism.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, a new prime minister, assumed office in May to assist in guiding the nation out of the crisis.
Despite mainly nonviolent demonstrations calling for Rajapaksa’s resignation since March, he has continued to hold onto power.
Thousands of protesters descended on Colombo’s government area, chanting anti-presidential chants and tearing down multiple police barricades to get to Rajapaksa’s home, according to a witness.
There were even rumours that enraged out-of-town demonstrators had forced railroad workers to operate trains to transport them to Colombo.
For the past three months, protesters have been camping out in front of his office door.
Social media videos showed demonstrators swarming the home, yelling “Gota go home,” and referring to the president by his nickname. Numerous people were spotted lounging around the residence, watching television, and jumping into the pool.
Barricades were knocked over outside the structure, and a black flag was raised on a pole.
Security guards at the president’s office attempted to halt protesters who broke past gates and ran across the lawns and inside the colonial-era structure.
The enraged mob surrounded the presidential palace, broke down gates, ran through the grounds, and entered the colonial-era structure despite police firing guns into the air.
As demonstrators attempted to enter the home, scuffles resulted in at least 34 injuries, including two police officers.
An official at the Colombo National Hospital who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to talk to the media claimed that two of the injured are in critical condition and that other people had suffered minor injuries.
On Saturday morning, thousands more demonstrators arrived in the city from the outskirts after the authorities lifted an overnight curfew. Due to a lack of gasoline, many people crammed onto buses and trains to get to the city to protest, while others travelled on foot and on bicycles.
Rajapaksa was urged to resign by protest and religious leaders who said he had lost the support of the populace.
‘His claim that he was voted in by the Sinhala Buddhists is not valid now,’ said Ven. Omalpe Sobitha, a prominent Buddhist leader. He urged Parliament to convene immediately to select an interim president but said that Wickremesinghe did not enjoy the people’s support.
Protest leaders in their proclamation demanded the resignation of not only the president and the government but all government officials and the country’s ambassadors. They said that the protesters should have access to governance as a pressure group.
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has summoned an emergency meeting of political party leaders today in response.
Last month, Wickremesinghe said the country’s economy had collapsed. He said that the negotiations with the IMF have been complex because Sri Lanka was now a bankrupt state.
In April, Sri Lanka announced it is suspending repaying foreign loans due to a foreign currency shortage. Its total foreign debt amounts to $51 billion of which it must repay $28 billion by the end of 2027.
Police had 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.
U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung on Friday asked people to protest peacefully and called for the military and police ‘to grant peaceful protesters the space and security to do so.’
‘Chaos & force will not fix the economy or bring the political stability that Sri Lankans need right now,’ Chung said in a tweet.
Demonstrators from all across the nation crammed onto buses, trains, and trucks to go to Colombo in protest of the government’s refusal to save people from financial disaster despite a severe fuel scarcity that has halted transportation services.
Since the cash-strapped nation ceased receiving fuel imports, forcing school closures and rationing of gasoline and diesel for basic services, discontent has gotten worse.
Sampath Perera, a 37-year-old fisherman, travelled 45 kilometres (24 miles) north of Colombo on a crowded bus to participate in the demonstration.
‘We have told Gota over and over again to go home but he is still clinging onto power. We will not stop until he listens to us,’ Perera said.
He is one of the many people who are being squeezed by ongoing gasoline shortages and inflation that reached 54.6% in June.
Sri Lanka’s negotiations with the IMF for a $3 billion bailout, a restructuring of part of its foreign debt, and money-raising from multilateral and bilateral sources to address the dollar shortage might be hampered by political uncertainty.