Protesters prevent a brother of the Sri Lankan president from boarding a plane to leave the country

July 12 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Former Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, brother of the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was unable to board a plane to leave the country on Tuesday due to protests by a group of passengers, within the framework of the massive mobilizations anti-government of the last days.

According to information collected by the Sri Lankan news portal Times Online, the former minister arrived at the Colombo airport to board a flight to the United States and stopover in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), although the passengers opposed his presence and They forced him to leave the place, without knowing if he has managed to catch another plane.

In this sense, the president of the Sri Lanka Immigration and Emigration Officers Association (SLIEOA) has stressed that its members will not continue in their posts at the airport to prevent relatives of politicians from leaving the country, which has caused the suspension of passport services at the terminal.

Thousands of people demonstrated Saturday in Colombo and other cities to protest against the president, after months of protests. The protesters stormed the official presidential residence and thus culminated months of demonstrations, after which the president announced that he will present his resignation this Wednesday.

After that, the Sri Lankan Parliament will have to elect a new president on July 20, according to Prasanna Ranatunga, one of the government ministers, although it is true that the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, will have to take the oath as president of the country for a limited period . The island nation is in the midst of its worst economic crisis since it gained independence from Britain in 1948.