Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled on a military jet on Wednesday after angry protesters seized his home and office.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president while he is overseas. Wickremesinghe quickly declared a nationwide state of emergency to counter swelling protests over the country’s economic and political collapse.
Rajapaksa’s flight brought an end to the rule of the powerful Rajapaksa clan that has dominated politics in the South Asian country for the last two decades, according to Reuters and AP.
However, Wickremesinghe’s appointment as acting president failed to calm thousands of protesters who stormed his office compound on Wednesday demanding his ouster. Over the weekend, protesters wanting him to leave politics burned down his private residence.
Protest leaders say the prime minister is allied to the Rajapaksas and have warned of a "decisive fight" if he does not resign.
"We are strongly against the Gota-Ranil government. Both have to go," said Buddhi Prabodha Karunaratne, one of the organisers of recent protests.
Wickremesinghe's office declared a state of emergency and a curfew with immediate effect, but then cancelled them. His office said the moves would be announced again later.
"Protesters have no reason to storm the prime minister's office," Wickremesinghe said in a statement. "They want to stop the parliamentary process. But we must respect the Constitution. So security forces have advised me to impose an emergency and a curfew. I'm working to do that."
According to Xinhua, Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday said a committee, comprising the chief of defence staff, military commanders, and the inspector general of police, was formed to control the situation in the nation after protesters took over the Prime Minister's Office.
In a televised speech, Wickremesinghe said that the committee had also been instructed to ensure the security and the safety of the citizens during the ongoing protests.
Police stationed outside the prime minister's office fired several rounds of tear gas and a military helicopter briefly circled overhead, but protesters appeared undeterred and finally surged into the compound. Wickremesinghe's team declined to reveal his whereabouts.
"It feels pretty marvellous, people were trying to take this place for about three hours," said college student Sanchuka Kavinda, 25, standing next to a mangled, open gate of the prime minister's office. "No matter what, everyone in this crowd will be here until Ranil also steps down."
