Thousands of people take the presidential palace in Colombo /
The Government convenes its crisis cabinet while a huge citizen march protests against the rise in prices and the economic crisis in Colombo
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa hastily fled his official residence in the capital, Colombo, minutes before an angry mob stormed it during a demonstration denouncing the country’s serious economic crisis. The president has been transferred under strong escort to a “safe place” that remains hidden even from his most direct collaborators in the government. The Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has convened a crisis cabinet, in which he has included all the political parties, awaiting “instructions” in order to find a “quick solution”. Parliament has also been called and it is not ruled out that the top leader will resign if the situation worsens.
The Ministry of Defense has stated that Rajapasksa “remains the president of the nation” and is “protected” by a unit of the naval forces. The first information suggests that the soldiers assigned to guard the official residence must have fired into the air to stop the demonstrators and give the president time to evacuate in a “safe” manner. The television channels show thousands of people surrounding the palace, passing through the doors and walls and even videos are already circulating on social networks of hundreds of protesters through the corridors and halls of the imposing colonial building. At this time it is unknown if there have been victims, although it has been confirmed that almost twenty citizens have been treated in health centers due to the effect of tear gas.
A group of people bursts into the offices and halls of the residence /
The demonstration had been called to protest against the economic crisis, an inflation that has led thousands of people to food insecurity and power cuts. The march brought together tens of thousands of people in Colombo, who demanded the resignation of the president, convinced that his mismanagement has not only alleviated but worsened the dramatic consequences of the pandemic. The coronavirus has left a country that lives eminently from this sector and exports of products such as coffee, tea and clothing without tourism for two years. All this has plunged him into the worst crisis known in recent decades.
Not even the 20,000 police and military deployed in the capital have managed to stop the protesters. Neither could the attempt by the authorities this Friday to impose a curfew, later annulled in the face of the threat of a cascade of complaints by opposition parties and civil rights organizations, nor the blockade of the railways. . Many of them moved protesters who had organized into groups in the villages to the city.
The Police and the Army have fired tear gas against the demonstrators /
The UN and several international organizations are closely following the incidents in this country that became independent in 1984, which last April was forced to suspend payments on its foreign debt and in May it already registered a wave of protests where nine people died and hundreds were injured. wounds. The first student demonstration took place on Friday, as a result of which the brief curfew was imposed, although the strong point of the mobilization is this Saturday, which keeps the Human Rights Commission on alert due to the massive presence of military units on the streets of Colombo.