Nagpur: India’s neighbor Sri Lanka has declared a State of Emergency after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives, as per the Prime Minister’s office.
Rajapaksa was due to offer his resignation on Wednesday but landed in the Maldivian capital of Male. He was received by Maldivian government representation at the airport on Tuesday night. Lanka has been dealing with its worst political as well as economic crisis for since the last two months.
“Since the president is out of the country, an emergency has been declared to deal with the situation in the country,” Prime Minister’s spokesman Dinouk Colombage announced. The country with a population of 22 million has suffered months of lengthy blackouts, shortages of fuel, medicines, and daily needs.
The Lanka citizens have been demanding the resignation of President Rajapaksa and blamed him for the mismanagement of the country’s finances. The protestors stormed inside the President’s house hours after he him fled the country.
Thousands of demonstrators had mobbed the premier’s office, prompting police to fire tear gas to hold them back from overrunning the compound.
“There are ongoing protests outside the prime minister’s office in Colombo and we need the curfew to contain the situation,” a senior police officer told AFP.
Police said they were also imposing an indefinite curfew across the Western Province, which includes the capital Colombo, to contain growing protests after Rajapaksa flew to the Maldives in a military aircraft.
