Sri Lanka: Protesters ‘will occupy palace until leaders go’
Current Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also said he would step down following Saturday's protests, in which his private residence was set on fire.
Protesters have said they will continue to occupy the Sri Lankan presidential and prime ministerial residences until both leaders officially resign.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he would step down on 13 July, according to an announcement made by the parliament’s speaker on Saturday.
But the president has not been seen or made a public statement himself.
Military sources have told the BBC that he is currently on a Navy vessel in Sri Lankan waters.
His brother, former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, is on a naval base in the country, the sources say.
Thousands descended on Colombo on Saturday demanding his resignation after months of protests.
The president has been blamed for the country’s economic mismanagement, which has caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine for months.
Current Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also said he would step down following Saturday’s protests, in which his private residence was set on fire.
But protesters remain sceptical about the leaders’ intentions.
“Our struggle is not over,” student protest leader Lahiru Weerasekara said, quoted by AFP. “We won’t give up this struggle until [President Rajapaksa] actually leaves,” he said.
“The next couple of days are going to be extremely uncertain times as to see what transpires politically,” political analyst and human rights lawyer Bhavani Fonseka told Reuters, adding that it would be interesting to see if the two leaders “actually resign”.
Political leaders held further meetings to discuss a smooth transition of power on Sunday.
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said that any new government needed to immediately focus on long-term economic stability.
The speaker of Sri Lanka’s parliament told the BBC World Service Newshour program that a new cross-party coalition government must be formed within a week of the president officially stepping down.
Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, who is a member of the president’s governing party, mostly blamed COVID-19 for the country’s economic woes.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has created havoc in the country economically so we had to spend all our money on vaccinations,” he said.
-BBC
