Topline
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took over as the country’s interim president on Wednesday and ordered a nationwide state of emergency and curfew, stirring even more anti-government protests across the country just hours after former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country.
Demonstrators take part in an anti-government protest outside the office of Sri Lanka’s prime … [+]
Key Facts
Wickremesinghe’s appointment as acting president was announced by the Sri Lankan Parliament’s speaker following the state of emergency was ordered giving police and security forces sweeping powers to arrest and detain people across the country.
The Prime Minister was asked to take over after former president Rajapaksa and his wife fled to the Maldives early on Wednesday morning on board a Sri Lankan Air Force plane.
Like Rajapaksa, anti-government protestors across Sri Lanka are also demanding Wickremesinghe’s resignation and have only intensified their opposition to him after the state of emergency was announced.
Videos shared by various news outlets in Sri Lanka showed that several protestors have managed to enter the Prime Minister’s office building—in a repeat of scenes from last week where protestors took over the Rajapaksa’s presidential residence.
In a televised address, Wickremesinghe ordered the Sri Lankan military to take all necessary steps to “restore order,” urged the protestors occupying his office to leave immediately and said, “we can’t allow fascists to take over.”
Several Sri Lankan TV networks, including public broadcasters Rupavihini and ITN, stopped broadcasting after protesters reportedly entered the studios.
Chief Critic
Sajith Premadasa, Sri Lanka’s leader of opposition, slammed Wickremesinghe’s decision to impose an emergency and questioned if he even had the power to do it, tweeting: “PM becomes acting President only if the President appoints him as such, or if the office of President is vacant, or if the CJ (Chief Justice) in consultation with the Speaker forms the view that the President is unable to act.”
Key Background
Protests across Sri Lanka erupted in May this year as the country’s formerly stable economy fell into a deep crisis. Sri Lanka—a popular tourist destination—was severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the situation was worsened by a drop in inward foreign remittances, a drop in fuel imports and a slump in food production. The Sri Lankan Rupee has shrunk by almost 80% in value since the start of the year while food and fuel prices have risen sharply. After intense protests in May, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s older brother Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as prime minister. The protestors’ anger has mainly been aimed at Sri Lanka’s most powerful political dynasty the Rajapaksas, who the protestors blame for the country’s current state. Mahinda is a former president himself, while younger brother Basil served as finance minister. Both Basil and former President Gotabaya were prevented from leaving the country earlier this week by immigration officials amid public demand for them to face prosecution for corruption.
Further Reading
Sri Lanka Political Crisis: Prime Minister’s House Set On Fire, Presidential Palace Stormed (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/07/13/sri-lanka-protests-state-of-emergency-declared-as-prime-minister-takes-over–heres-what-to-know/