Sri Lanka: the president will resign, his palace invaded
Steph Deschamps / July 10, 2022
Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa agreed on Saturday to resign next week, hours after he was forced to flee his mobbed residence after massive protests in Colombo over the country's catastrophic crisis.
To ensure a peaceful transition, the president has said he will resign on July 13, parliamentary speaker Mahinda Abeywardana said on television.
Two people close to the president resigned without delay: the head of the press office, Sudewa Hettiarachchi, and the media minister, Bandula Gunawardana, who also left his post as head of the presidential party.
For his part, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe tried to pave the way for a government of national unity by convening an emergency meeting of the government with the opposition parties, to which he offered his resignation.
But this was not enough to calm the anger of the demonstrators who in the evening besieged his residence, in his absence, and set fire to it, without causing any injuries.
The president was escorted to safety, a defense source told AFP. Soldiers guarding the official residence fired in the air to deter protesters from approaching the palace until it was evacuated.
According to this source, the president boarded a military vessel bound for the territorial waters south of the island.
Local television stations showed images of hundreds of people climbing over the gates of his palace.
Protesters later live-streamed videos on social media of the crowd wandering inside, some of them frolicking in the presidential pool or in the bedrooms.
This is Gotabaya's room, this is the underwear he left behind, raved a young man, holding up a black slip on a live video, shared again on social networks. He also left his shoes!
The protesters also took over the nearby presidential offices, where demonstrators had been camped for three months.
One by one, demonstrators lounged on his large bed, or the comfortable sofas in the living rooms. Some helped themselves to the pantry, scattering snacks and drinks here and there.
I was surprised to see that an air conditioner was working in his bathroom. While we suffer endless power cuts, a man who entered the palace told AFP by phone.
For months, due to repeated shortages of food, electricity, fuel and medicine, many Sri Lankans have been calling for the resignation of the president and several members of his ruling family.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa had been living in the official residence, usually reserved for the reception of foreign leaders, only since last April, after thousands of protesters tried to invade his private home during a large demonstration.
His home was not invaded but he had moved to the palace in the hope, ultimately in vain, of being safer there.