Protesting Sri Lankans Storm Presidential Home, Office

Footage showed hundreds of people inside the well-fortified house and on the grounds outside, some taking a dip in the garden pool and others in a jubilant mood.

AP/Amitha Thennakoon
Protesters at Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 9, 2022. AP/Amitha Thennakoon

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan protesters stormed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s residence and nearby office on Saturday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Colombo in the biggest demonstration yet to vent their fury against a leader they hold responsible for the island nation’s worst economic crisis.

It was not clear if Mr. Rajapaksa was inside his residence but footage showed hundreds of people inside the well-fortified house and on the grounds outside, some taking a dip in the garden pool and others in a jubilant mood.

A government spokesman, Mohan Samaranayake, said he had no information about Rajapaksa’s whereabouts.

Leaders of political parties in Parliament met after the storming of the president’s residence and decided to request Mr. Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to step down, opposition lawmaker Rauff Hakeem said on Twitter.

He said a consensus was reached that the parliamentary speaker should take over as temporary president and work to form an interim government, he said.

Sri Lanka’s economy is in a state of collapse, muddling through with aid from India and other countries as its leaders try to negotiate a bailout with the International Monetary Fund. The economic meltdown has led to severe shortages of essential items, leaving people struggling to buy food, fuel and other necessities.

The turmoil has led to months of protests, which have nearly dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty that has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades.


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