Sri Lanka crisis: Sri Lanka is going through its worst economic crisis ever. Things turned worse when it was reported Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left the country secretly. Sri Lanka on Wednesday declared a state of emergency after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on a military jet in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the country’s economy. He left together with his wife and a bodyguard. Shortly after, thousands of protestors took to the street and some of them stormed the Prime Minister's residence in Colombo demanding the President and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to quit.
Dramatic visuals from Sri Lankan PM's house have gone viral on social media. In the videos, a huge military is seen present inside the house to prevent the protesters from coming inside the house but failed to do. They broke through a barricade despite tear gas before storming the prime minister's office, demanding his resignation. The video has shocked netizens. Here's how they are reacting to it:
For the unversed, the protestors are protesting against the Prime Minister who is tipped to be appointed as the acting president. According to Sri Lankan Constitution, when there is no President, the PM will be appointed as the acting President but the protesters are not happy with this decision and this is the reason they are demanding Wickremesinghe to resign.
73-year-old Gotabaya had gone into hiding after crowds of protestors stormed his residence on July 9 and he had announced that he will resign on July 13. Sri Lankan authorities today confirmed that Gotabaya had flown to the Maldives with his wife and two bodyguards after full approval of the country's Defence Ministry. Sri Lanka is suffering its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948, which comes on the heels of successive waves of COVID-19, threatening to undo years of development progress and severely undermining the country's ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The economic crisis will push families into hunger and poverty - some for the first time - adding to the half a million people who the World Bank estimates have fallen below the poverty line because of the pandemic.
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--with inputs from ANI
