Sri Lankan protesters hold a mock Cabinet meeting at the Presidential House
COLOMBO: Anti-government protesters occupying the residence of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa here on Sunday staged a simulation Cabinet meeting and “IMF talks” to ridicule the government he led, a day after he stormed into the compound in anger over the country’s crippling economic crisis.
The public flocked to the presidential secretariat, the president’s house and Temple Trees, the prime minister’s official residence after they were taken over by protesters on Saturday.
Protesters said they would not leave until Rajapaksa resigns.
During the mock Cabinet meeting, protesters discussed the arson of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghethe House.
They staged a mock IMF chat involving a stranger who had visited the venue with the other protesters.
On Saturday, protesters were seen in the bedrooms and splashing around in the President’s House pool.
Rajapaksa, 73, appears to have gone into hiding amid massive public anger over the unprecedented economic crisis since the country’s independence in 1948.
He informed President Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena from an undisclosed location that he would step down on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has also offered to resign.
The cash-strapped island nation experienced a tumultuous day on Saturday when protesters stormed Rajapaksa’s official residence in Colombo.
The demonstrators did not spare Prime Minister Wickremesinghe despite his offer to resign and set fire to his private residence in an affluent district of the capital.
Wickremesinghe on Saturday expressed his willingness to resign when a new government is formed.
He stressed that in dealing with the International Monetary Fund on an assistance package and in dealing with shortages of essentials, including food and fuel, it was important not to leave a vacuum.
In May, President Rajapaksa’s elder brother and prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, had to resign in the face of massive protests against the government.
The Rajapaksa brothers, Mahinda and Gotabaya, were hailed by many in Sri Lanka as heroes for winning the civil war against the LTTE, but they are now blamed for the country’s worst economic crisis.
Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is in the grip of an unprecedented economic crisis, the worst in seven decades, crippled by a severe shortage of foreign exchange which has prevented it from paying for essential imports fuel and other necessities. .
The country, facing an acute foreign exchange crisis that led to a foreign debt default, announced in April that it was suspending repayment of nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due for this year out of about $25 billion due until 2026. Sri Lanka’s total external debt stands at $51 billion.
The public flocked to the presidential secretariat, the president’s house and Temple Trees, the prime minister’s official residence after they were taken over by protesters on Saturday.
Protesters said they would not leave until Rajapaksa resigns.
During the mock Cabinet meeting, protesters discussed the arson of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghethe House.
They staged a mock IMF chat involving a stranger who had visited the venue with the other protesters.
On Saturday, protesters were seen in the bedrooms and splashing around in the President’s House pool.
Rajapaksa, 73, appears to have gone into hiding amid massive public anger over the unprecedented economic crisis since the country’s independence in 1948.
He informed President Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena from an undisclosed location that he would step down on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has also offered to resign.
The cash-strapped island nation experienced a tumultuous day on Saturday when protesters stormed Rajapaksa’s official residence in Colombo.
The demonstrators did not spare Prime Minister Wickremesinghe despite his offer to resign and set fire to his private residence in an affluent district of the capital.
Wickremesinghe on Saturday expressed his willingness to resign when a new government is formed.
He stressed that in dealing with the International Monetary Fund on an assistance package and in dealing with shortages of essentials, including food and fuel, it was important not to leave a vacuum.
In May, President Rajapaksa’s elder brother and prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, had to resign in the face of massive protests against the government.
The Rajapaksa brothers, Mahinda and Gotabaya, were hailed by many in Sri Lanka as heroes for winning the civil war against the LTTE, but they are now blamed for the country’s worst economic crisis.
Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is in the grip of an unprecedented economic crisis, the worst in seven decades, crippled by a severe shortage of foreign exchange which has prevented it from paying for essential imports fuel and other necessities. .
The country, facing an acute foreign exchange crisis that led to a foreign debt default, announced in April that it was suspending repayment of nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due for this year out of about $25 billion due until 2026. Sri Lanka’s total external debt stands at $51 billion.