New Delhi: Amid the intensifying nationwide protests, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned on Monday, a move that is likely to pave the way for a new cabinet in the crisis marred country. The move comes days after President Gotbaya Rajapaksa in a special meeting on Friday requested the Prime Minister to step down as a solution to the ongoing political crisis in the country, Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror reported.
The resignation came after a day of violence saw five people including an MP killed and over 187 wounded as government supporters armed with sticks and clubs attacked protestors. On Monday morning protesters held a demonstration opposite the Temple Trees, the official residence of the prime minister, urging Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa not to resign. Following their meeting with the prime minister, they clashed with anti-government protesters near the Temple Trees. The resignation came shortly after he put out a tweet urging the general public to exercise restraint.
Responding to Mahinda’s tweet, former Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara said, ‘The only violence was perpetrated by your ‘supporters’ – goons and thugs who came to your office first before going on to assault the peaceful protestors’. Now that the Prime Minister has resigned, President Rajapaksa is expected to invite all the political parties in Parliament to form an all-party Cabinet. Earlier, the opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) confirmed that its leader Sajith Premadasa will not accept the PM’s post in an interim government.
Rajapaksa had addressed some 3,000 supporters at his house and pledged he would ‘protect the interests of the nation’. The supporters then initially pulled down tents of protesters in front of the prime minister’s Temple Trees residence and torched anti-government banners and placards. They then marched to the nearby promenade and began destroying other tents set up by the ‘Gota go home’ campaign that demands the president step down.
Police fired tear gas and water cannon and declared an immediate curfew in Colombo which was later widened to include the entire South Asian island nation of 22 million people. Over 150 injured people were hospitalised, Colombo National Hospital spokesman Pushpa Soysa told AFP. Officials said the army riot squad was called in to reinforce police. Soldiers have been deployed throughout the crisis to protect deliveries of fuel and other essentials but until now not to prevent clashes.
Sri Lanka has been plunged in weeks of economic crisis stemming from a foreign exchange shortage which has led to a shortage in essential supplies such as fuel, food and medicines. Protests have been ongoing for days calling on the government and lawmakers to find urgent solutions.
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