Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency Wednesday as thousands of people mobbed the prime minister’s office after the country’s president flew to the Maldives, following months of widespread protests against an economic crisis.
Hours later, with no formal announcement he was stepping down, thousands of demonstrators mobbed the office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe — who would automatically become acting president in the event of a resignation — demanding both officeholders should go.Police fired tear gas to hold them back from overrunning the compound and officials declared a nationwide state of emergency “to deal with the situation in the country”, the prime minister’s spokesman Dinouk Colombage told AFP.
The presidential succession process could take between three days — the minimum time needed for parliament to elect an MP to serve out Rajapaksa’s term, which ends in November 2024 — and a maximum of 30 days allowed under the statute.Rajapaksa is accused of mismanaging the economy to a point where the country has run out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, leading to severe hardships for its 22 million people.
The departure of Rajapaksa, 73 and once known as “The Terminator”, had been stymied for more than 24 hours in a humiliating stand-off with immigration personnel in Colombo. On arrival in the Maldives, his party were driven to an undisclosed location under police escort, an airport official in the capital Male said.
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