Protesters in Sri Lanka defied tear gas, water cannon and a state of emergency to storm the prime minister’s office after the country’s embattled president fled overseas, with the crowd demanding both men step down in the face of an economic crisis.
In a televised statement on Wednesday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he had instructed the military and police to do “what is necessary to restore order”.
But armed security personnel stood by on the grounds of his office as protesters, some holding national flags, milled and took pictures. Other demonstrators at one point broke into state television studios, as the country’s months-long political and economic crisis appeared to be moving towards a climax. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 73, promised at the weekend to resign on Wednesday after escaping his own official residence in Colombo just before tens of thousands of protesters overran it. He flew to the neighbouring Maldives early on Wednesday. As president, he enjoys immunity from arrest, and he is believed to have wanted to go abroad before stepping down to avoid the possibility of being detained.
But midnight passed with no announcement he had stepped down.
Sri Lankan protesters, some holding national flags, on a balcony after storming Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office. Sri Lankan protesters, some holding national flags, after storming Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office In his absence, he named as acting president Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, whose own office was soon mobbed by thousands of demonstrators demanding both officeholders should go. Tear gas and water cannon fired by police and the declaration of both a nationwide state of emergency and a curfew failed to disperse them and the crowd poured into the building.One protester was killed due to suffocation from tear gas, police said. Helicopters hovered over protesters in Colombo on Wednesday, in what a protest leader called an “attempt to intimidate”.“We don’t accept illegal state of emergency imposed by an illegal prime minister. We want both Gota [Rajapaksa] and Ranil [Wickremesinghe] to go, not to impose emergency rule,” protest leader Kalpana Madhubhashini told Al Jazeera. “State of emergency wasn’t imposed to protect people but to oppress the people. We urge everybody to come and join the protest at Galle Face,” Madhubhashini said, referring to a main protest site in the city…
Source: aljazeera.com
Saturday, May 9, 2026
