Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has reportedly fled the country, hours before angry protesters stormed the presidential palace in Colombo and took over his administrative office on Saturday. Gotabaya was moved out of his official residence on Friday evening anticipating a huge protest.
Videos released by NewsFirst.LK, sourced from one of the employees at Colombo port, said that a VIP left in a ship called SLNS Gajabahu from the Colombo port. However, sources in the President Secretariat and the Sri Lankan military say that Gotabaya has been moved into a safe place. “He is still the president of our country. He has been moved to safety,” a senior official at the President Secretariat told THE WEEK. He, however, refused to confirm the reports that the president had fled the country. A few visuals showed a convoy heading to the Katunayake airport while another set of visuals showed VIP vehicles heading to the Bandaranaike airport.
Gotabaya was continuing in office even as the “go Gota Home” protests, started in April, raged across Sri Lanka which had been battling one of its worst economic crises in history with increasing food and fuel shortages. Schools, colleges, government offices and at least a few hospitals and medical centres were completely shut down as there were no fuel stocks available.
The protests had hit a new high for the past three days and thousands of agitators started reaching Colombo since Thursday. After violence erupted in some areas prompting security forces to use tear gas, a curfew order was issued in the capital on Friday. However, the agitators thronged Galle Face Green in large numbers ignoring curfew orders. They were backed by the main opposition parties including Sajith Premadasa’s Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and Jonathan Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).
A few hours after the curfew was lifted, the protesters thronged the president's residence. They crossed the barricades and entered the palace. The protesters were seen swimming in the pool, checking things in president’s dressing room, sitting on his chair in his office room and lying on the bed in his bedroom. Short videos made by the protesters themselves were shared on the social media, reminding the world about the events in Philippines in 1986.
As per Sri Lanka’s Constitution, when the president quits his office, the prime minister can take over as the president and then prove his majority to continue in the office. However, this time though, opposition to Ranil Wickremesinghe, who called himself as the “crisis prime minister” has also chosen to give way. “To ensure the continuation of the government including the safety of all citizens I accept the best recommendation of the party leaders today, to make way for an All-Party government. To facilitate this I will resign as Prime Minister,” Ranil Wickremesinghe tweeted. Ranil took over as the Prime Minister immediately after Mahinda was forced to quit by the protesters.
“Majority party leaders have agreed that Gotabaya and Ranil should resign immediately and the speaker will act as President for a maximum of 30 days,” says Harsha De Silva, a member of Parliament from Sajith Premadasa’s SJB. He also said that the members of the parliament will elect the next president for the remaining term of office of president. “An all party interim government will be appointed and the elections will be announced soon,” he added. However, with the worsening crisis, any interim political solution may not help the country come out immediately.
On the other side, sources say that Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family too have left the country. A month before, Mahinda was reportedly moved to the naval base at Trincomallee as the protesters reached the prime minister's residence. Incidentally, the Rajapaksas who were the most popular in Sri Lanka and who were celebrated by the majority Sinhalese, till a few years before have lost peoples trust.
