Sri Lankan President flees his official residence occupied by thousands of protesters

First modification: 07/09/2022 – 11:44

Sri Lanka is plunged into a deep political crisis. The country’s president, Gotabaya Rajapaksahas fled from his official residence in Colombo minutes before it was taken over by thousands of protesters furious at the serious economic situation that the country is going through, with runaway inflation and a serious shortage of basic products.

The private channel Sirasa TV showed footage of the crowd storming the presidential palaceUntil now jealously guarded. Protesters they breached the security perimeter surrounding the building, in the heart of Colombo, despite the fact that the Police resorted to tear gas to prevent the intrusion, said the local newspaper Ada Derana, which specified that the president had previously left the area.

According to defense sources, Rajapaksa remained president of the country and was in a secret place protected by the army.

This has happened hours after the Police imposed a curfew in and around Colombo to try to contain the protests calling for the resignation of the president and the prime minister for their inability to contain the economic crisis.

The worst economic crisis

sri lanka traverses the worst economic crisis since its independence and it suffers from fuel, food and medicine shortages due to a lack of foreign exchange, coupled with runaway inflation.

This island country of 22 million peoplelocated in southern India, has suffered months of power cuts, long queues to buy fuel and record inflation, which has generated frequent demonstrations and mass riots.

The government declared a moratorium on its external debt for 51,000 million dollars.

Due to fuel and power shortages, schools have been closed for weeks and the government has asked state employees, except those in essential services, to work from home.

With AFP, Reuters and local media