Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
Sri Lanka president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and bodyguards fled the country on an Air Force plane to Male, the capital of the Maldives. The president informed Sri Lanka’s Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena that he will resign in a few hours, something that becomes irrelevant after the escape.
Back in Sri Lanka, hours after country’s president fled, protesters stormed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office demanding his resignation chanting “Ranil go home!.” Rajapaksa, 73, enjoys immunity from prosecution while he is president.
Police had to fire repeated rounds of tear gas and Wickremesinghe, who was acting as the president in his absence, declared a nationwide emergency and clamped a curfew in the city and surrounding areas.
Protests broke out in the capital city of Colombo after President Rajapaksa fled the country on a military plane early on Wednesday. The President, his wife and two bodyguards landed in the Male reportedly after intervention from a top Maldivian leader. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is expected to reach Singapore later.
The Maldives National Party (MNP) expressed unhappiness over the Maldivian government’s decision to allow Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to travel to the country, and said it will move a motion, seeking explanation.
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MNP leader and former Maldives foreign minister Dunya Maumoon said it was very disappointing that the Maldivian government did not care about the sentiments of the Sri Lankan people.
Acting President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe has said there was a fascist threat to democracy in the country. In his first televised address since being appointed to the post after embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives, Wickremesinghe said he had ordered military commanders and the police chief to do what is necessary.
