Thousands protest against Sri Lanka’s new acting president, #Thousands #protest #Sri #Lankas #acting #president Welcome to OLASMEDIA TV NEWSThis is what we have for you today:
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) – Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled in a military plane on Wednesday after angry protesters seized his home and office and appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president while he was abroad. Wickremesinghe quickly declared a national emergency to stem mounting protests over the country’s economic and political collapse.
Rajapaksa had previously pledged to resign on Wednesday, and parliament speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said the president assured him he would still do so. If he does, parliament must elect a new president on July 20. Wickremesinghe has also promised to resign, but not before a new government is formed.
His appointment as acting president failed to calm thousands of protesters who stormed his office building on Wednesday, demanding that he resign. Over the weekend, protesters who wanted to leave him politically set his private home on fire.
Wickremesinghe’s latest term, six-time prime minister, is arguably the most challenging. He was appointed by Rajapaksa in May and was brought in to help restore international credibility when the government negotiated an economic bailout package with the International Monetary Fund.
Wickremesinghe, who is also finance minister, became the public face of the economic collapse, which led to severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine. He has delivered weekly speeches in parliament as he began difficult negotiations with financial institutions, lenders and allies to fill the government coffers and provide some relief to impatient citizens.
He raised taxes and promised to overhaul a government that had increasingly concentrated power under the presidency, a model many believe has plunged the country into crisis.
In his new job, he left little doubt about the dire future ahead. “The next few months will be the hardest of our lives,” he told Sri Lankans in early June, a few weeks before saying in parliament the country had bottomed out. “Our economy has completely collapsed,” he said.
Ultimately, according to observers, he lacked both political weight and public support to get the job done. He is the only MP in his party after it suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2020 elections.
His reputation had already been tarnished by his previous tenure as prime minister, when he found himself in a difficult power-sharing relationship with then-president Maithripala Sirisena. A communication breakdown between them was blamed for an intelligence loss that led to suicide bombings on churches and hotels on Easter Sunday in 2019, which killed 290 people.
Without respite for civilians queuing for fuel, food and medicine, Wickremesinghe became increasingly unpopular. Many protesters say his appointment simply pressured Rajapaksa to resign. But analysts doubt a new leader can do much more, instead fearing political uncertainty will only exacerbate the crisis.
†
Find more of AP’s Sri Lanka coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/sri-lanka