Street battles in Colombo after Gotabaya flees in dead of night

He declared a nationwide curfew until Thursday morning to prevent further unrest after protesters, on learning that Gotabaya had fled, turned their ire on him and stormed the Prime Minister’s Office. In a statement, Wickremesinghe said the protesters had no reason to storm his office. “They want to stop the parliamentary process. But we must respect the Constitution,” he said.

Earlier, local media said a youth died after police used tear gas to disperse a large group of protesters who had gathered near the PMO. By late evening, the protesters had taken control of the PMO premises on Flower Road in Colombo.

In the afternoon, public broadcaster Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation had to suspend transmission as a group of protesters entered the premises and reportedly demanded that only news related to “anti-government protests” and entertainment programmes be broadcast. The protesters got 15 minutes to speak directly to viewers after which the channel suspended transmission. Rupavahini resumed broadcasting later.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Air Force said it had provided an aircraft for President Gotabaya to depart for the Maldives following approval from the Ministry of Defence. According to Lanka media, Rajapaksa, 73, his wife Ioma and a bodyguard were among four passengers on board an An-32 aircraft that took off from the main international airport.

After arriving in the Maldives, Gotabaya was expected to head next to Singapore, the Reuters news agency said, citing a government source.

Earlier in the day, a group of protestors, mostly young men and women, moved from the President’s Secretariat towards the PMO, barely a few kilometres away. The Indian Express witnessed many protesters chanting slogans of “Go Ranil, go home” on the streets, some waving Sri Lankan flags.

One of them, Gehan Melroy, 30, who has “studied mechanical engineering and is working on nano-electronics”, said: “Both the leaders have to go. We can’t trust them, we need new leaders, new system.”

Protestors hold Sri Lankan flags as they stand on top of the office of Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, amid the country’s economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka July 13, 2022. (Reuters)

Melroy, along with other volunteers, handed out pamphlets titled “Freedom of the struggle”, which said that Wickremesinghe and the Rajapaksa regime “must/should resign with immediate effect”.

“Subsequent to the resignation of the Gota-Ranil Government, an interim Governance which subscribes to the economic, social and political aims and aspirations of the ‘peoples struggle / Janatha Aragalaya’ should be established. A People’s Council which has legal standing, through which representatives of the ‘Janatha Aragalaya’ will be able to effectively engage and mediate with the Interim Governance should be established,” the pamphlet said.

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Wickremesinghe was appointed Prime Minister in May, following the resignation of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the elder brother of Gotabaya and a former President.

Late Wednesday evening, when The Indian Express visited the PMO, groups of people milled around on the lawns with security personnel looking on. The lawns were muddy, with garbage piled up. Dressed mostly in jeans and T-shirts, young protesters were seen walking in and out of the Prime Minister’s Office without checks.