Sri Lanka’s Colombo A day after demonstrators ransacked the president’s home and set fire to the prime minister’s home, prompting both leaders to announce their resignations due to the country’s increasing economic crisis, there is peace on the streets of Sri Lanka.
On Wednesday, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is anticipated to step down, putting an abrupt end to the powerful clans’ more than a 20-year monopoly on Sri Lankan politics.
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Ranil Wickremesinghe, the country’s new prime minister, also offered to step down so that an all-party temporary administration could take over. He barely took office two months ago.
The 73-year-old Rajapaksa has pleaded with the populace for a peaceful transfer of power, which he intends to oversee before leaving office.
On Sunday, political party leaders are expected to gather, with opposition MPs asserting they have the legislative majority to set up an interim administration.
We require change. We don’t deserve to live like this. The leaders are to blame for what has occurred to this nation, a protester named K Chandra told Al Jazeera.
According to Sri Lanka’s constitution, the Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena would likely assume the role of acting president following the resignations of the country’s president and prime minister.
Locals went on a tour of the location. She said she wanted to observe how the presidents lived when she and her two teenage children visited, according to Al Jazeera. “We haven’t seen any evidence of their way of life. She added, “I wanted to see for myself.
Police reported that they detained over 3,000 persons during the protests on Saturday.
According to officials, at least 50 people—including police officers—were hurt during the protests. During the protests, security personnel also attacked journalists.
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The demonstrators setting fire to the prime minister’s home, according to Bhavani Fonseka of the Center for Policy Alternatives, is a disturbing development.
Violence is not the solution to the issue, Individual citizens ought to appreciate one another, he told Al Jazeera.
The leaders’ resignation, according to Fonseka, must take place, but it must not result in a political void.
“We won’t give up,”
People’s demands, made out of rage over the worst economic crisis to hit the nation in 70 years, have been heard clearly for months. “Gota Go Home” was a catchphrase that frequently referred to the president who was under attack.
The protestors gathered on Saturday at the oceanfront Galle Face neighborhood of the capital Colombo, where thousands of people had been camped out for months, demanding the resignation of the president for his handling of the economic crisis.
protesters calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka to resign
Inside the President’s House in Colombo, protesters can be seen swimming. [AFP]
Images and footage showed them swimming in the compound’s pool as soon as they broke into the president’s colonial home and went popular on social media. Some even appeared to be watching a cricket match on television.
As his fellow protesters applauded, one participant said to Al Jazeera, “We won’t stop until Gota goes.”
The executive director of Verité Research, Nishan de Mel, asserted that there is no quick fix for Sri Lanka’s issues. But they may undoubtedly be led in a different direction from where they are now, he said to Al Jazeera.
He claimed that widespread corruption was one of the key issues facing Sri Lanka’s government.
He added that it will produce fresh and better leadership. “I think with an all-party government, the assumption is that it would be a caretaker government that puts a halt to the current trend of corruption and bad decision-making and leads Sri Lanka on the correct path,” he said.
Sri Lanka’s government delayed the repayment of foreign loans earlier this year as a result of a lack of foreign currency, which marked the start of the country’s economic crisis. In addition to negotiating a bailout with the IMF, the country is reliant on aid from India and other countries.
Many people think that the political instability may cause the highly anticipated IMF rescue to be delayed. IMF representatives told reporters that they were looking for an improvement in the situation in Sri Lanka.
“We are keeping a careful eye on the current events in Sri Lanka. As they restated their commitment to aid Sri Lanka, they said, “We hope for a resolution of the current crisis that will allow for the resumption of our dialogue on an IMF-supported project.
The challenge of reconstructing and stabilizing Sri Lanka will not only be difficult but also “dangerous,” according to political expert Aruna Kulatunga.
“The many traps ahead could include choices about whether or not we go for an IMF-backed debt rescheduling or will we just decide to be a pariah state and simply stop acknowledging our debt to the rest of the world, and seek refuge in geopolitical gamesmanship by requesting help from other countries who are not in the mainstay of global economics,” he told Al Jazeera.
