The situation is not calm again in Sri Lanka. This Wednesday, thousands of protesters stormed the offices of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, a few hours after his appointment as interim president, according to witnesses.
Crowds overwhelmed law enforcement and entered the building to raise the countries’ flags, as police and military tried to repel them with tear gas and water cannons.
Acting President
Earlier in the day, the speaker of parliament announced the nomination by fugitive head of state Gotabaya Rajapaksa of Ranil Wickremesinghe as interim president.
In a televised speech, the latter called on the army and police to restore order, but the troops withdrew, leaving the doors of the building open to protesters.
“I have ordered the military commands and the chief of police to do what is necessary to restore order,” the prime minister said.
The protesters “want to prevent me from fulfilling my responsibilities as interim president,” he added. “We cannot allow the fascists to take control.”
“We cannot break our Constitution. We cannot allow the fascists to take control. We must end this fascist threat to democracy,” he said, adding that public buildings occupied by protesters would be returned to the state.
A country in deep crisis
During the day, the government had declared a state of emergency and police had imposed a curfew in Colombo province.
But that did not deter the thousands of protesters gathered outside the prime minister’s office.
Other demonstrators smashed the antenna of the main public television channel.
An unidentified man entered the studio of the Rupavahini channel during a live broadcast and ordered that only information related to the protests be broadcast. The transmission was cut and replaced by a recorded program.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had promised last weekend to step down on Wednesday but, having arrived in the Maldives earlier in the day, has yet to formalize his withdrawal.
Source: BFM TV
