As the protests intensified in Sri Lanka, the nation's chief of defence staff General Shavendra Silva requested all citizens to support the armed forces and the police to ensure that the peace is maintained in the country. This move comes on the back of group of protesters entering the private residence of prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and setting it on fire.
Sri Lanka's under-fire president Gotabaya Rajapaksa will resign on Wednesday, parliament speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced. Rajapaksa appears to have gone underground in the face of massive public anger over an unprecedented economic crisis that has brought Sri Lanka to its knees.
Amid an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, thousands of protesters stormed the official residence of Rajapaksa, whose whereabouts were unknown and it is believed the 73-year-old leader left the house before the massive mob arrived.
At the same time, a group of protesters entered the private residence of prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and set it on fire.
Abeywardena had told Rajapaksa that party leaders wanted him and Wickremesinghe to resign immediately, parliament to be convened in seven days to appoint an acting president, and appoint an interim all-party government under a new prime minister commanding majority in parliament. It was also decided to call for elections within a short period of time and install a new government.
