The Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament has accepted a letter of resignation from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, which the assaulted leader sent after fleeing to Singapore.
“From this point on, we will go on to constitutionally appoint a new president,” the speaker, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, said on Friday.
He added that Parliament will meet on Saturday to begin the process of electing a new president who would occupy the rest of Rajapaksa’s term ending in 2024. Abeywardana said he expected the process to be done in seven days.
The announcement on Thursday that a letter had been delivered had caused jubilation in the commercial capital, Colombo, where protesters gathered in front of the presidential secretariat challenging the curfew across the city.
Crowds set off firecrackers, shouted slogans and danced ecstatically at the Gota Go Gama protest site, mockingly christened Rajapaksa.
“The whole country will celebrate it today,” said Damitha Abeyrathne, an activist. “It’s a big win.”
“We never thought we would free this country from them,” he added, referring to the Rajapaksa family who dominated the country’s politics for 20 years.
Rajapaksa landed in Singapore on Thursday after fleeing massive protests over his country’s economic crisis. He reportedly traveled to Singapore on a flight from the Saudi airline.
Rajapaksa was with his wife Ioma and his two bodyguards. A passenger on the flight, who did not want to be named, told Reuters news agency that Rajapaksa was greeted by a group of security guards and was seen leaving the airport’s VIP area in a convoy of black vehicles.
Flight airline staff told Reuters the president dressed in black and flew in business class, describing him as “calm” and “friendly”.
The Singapore Foreign Ministry confirmed that Rajapaksa had been able to enter the city-state, but insisted it was for a “private visit”.
“He has not applied for asylum or been granted asylum. In general, Singapore does not grant asylum applications, “he said in a statement.
A handful of Sri Lankan citizens waited in one of the airport’s arrival areas to express their anger against Rajapaksa and the economic crisis sweeping their homeland.
“I want to scold him with all the words I know,” said a Sri Lankan design engineer working in Singapore, who identified only as Max.
“He is responsible for everything that happened in our country,” he told AFP news agency. The city-state is home to a major Sri Lankan diaspora.
But authorities quickly warned against the protests: it is illegal for even one person to hold a demonstration in Singapore, tightly controlled, without prior official permission.
In a statement issued after Rajapaksa’s arrival, police urged people to “comply with our local laws” and said “action will be taken against anyone who participates in a public assembly that is illegal.”
Rajapaksa arrived in Singapore on Friday [John Angelillo/Pool via Reuters]
Relatively calm
Rajapaksa’s decision on Wednesday to convert his allied prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president sparked more protests, with protesters storming parliament and the prime minister’s office demanding that he also resign.
“We want Ranil to go home,” Malik Perera, a 29-year-old rickshaw driver who took part in the Parliament protests, said on Thursday. “They have sold the country. We want a good person to take over. Until then, we will not stop.
Protests against the economic crisis have been raging for months and culminated last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people took over government buildings in Colombo, blaming the powerful Rajapaksa family and their allies for inflation. rampant, scarcity of basic goods and corruption.
Inside the president’s residence early Thursday, Sri Lankans strolled down the aisles, admiring the building’s extensive art collection, luxury cars and pool.
Protesters hold Sri Lankan flags as they stand on top of the office of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe amid the country’s economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka [Adnan Abidi/Reuters]
The usual protest sites, however, were quiet. Organizers of the protest returned the residences of the president and prime minister to the government on Thursday evening.
The government imposed a curfew on Colombo from noon (06:30 GMT) on Thursday until early Friday morning to try to prevent further unrest. Local media showed armored vehicles with soldiers upstairs patrolling the city streets.
The army said troops had the power to use force to protect people and public goods.
Police said one person was killed and 84 were injured in clashes between riot police and protesters on Wednesday near parliament and the prime minister’s office, as people demanded the removal of both Rajapaksa and of Wickremesinghe.
The army said two soldiers were seriously injured when they were attacked by protesters near parliament on Wednesday evening and had their weapons and magazines taken from them.
Police said the man who died was a 26-year-old protester who succumbed after being injured near the prime minister’s office.