Hours after resigning as PM, Mahinda Rajapaksha’s house set ablaze

Story by  ATV | Posted by  sabir hussain • 1 Years ago
Representational image.
Representational image.

 

Colombo

Mahinda Rajapaksa's residence in the city of Kurunegala in Sri Lanka’s northwest was set on fire on Monday, hours after he resigned as protests raged amid a crippling economic crisis.

Earlier on Monday, anti-government protesters also set on fire the official residences of Moratuwa Mayor Saman Lal Fernando and MPs Sanath Nishantha, Ramesh Pathirana, Mahipala Herath, Thissa Kuttiarachchi, and Nimal Lanza. A large number of protesters including the Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF) were out on the streets and attacked the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna MPs. Even some Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) offices were set ablaze, Daily Mirror reported.

Two persons were shot dead and five others were left injured at the residence of the Chairman of the Weeraketiya Pradeshiya Sabha, local police said.

The violence erupted even as Mahinda Rajapaksha resigned as Prime Minister and called for the formation of an all-party interim government to address the economic crisis.

The military has been deployed on the roads to maintain calm despite an island-wide curfew, reported Daily Mirror.

Countrywide protests against the government have intensified over the past few days resulting in an increase in clashes with security forces deployed at protest sites.

More than a hundred protestors were injured on Monday at the Galle Face protest site during violent clashes resulting in a nationwide curfew in the country.

"While emotions are running high in #lka, I urge our general public to exercise restraint and remember that violence only begets violence. The economic crisis we're in needs an economic solution which this administration is committed to resolving," Mahinda Rajapaksa said in a tweet shortly before resigning.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since independence with food and fuel shortages, soaring prices, and power cuts affecting a large number of the citizens, resulting in massive protests over the government's handling of the situation.

The recession is attributed to foreign exchange shortages caused by a fall in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as reckless economic policies, like the government's move last year to ban chemical fertilizers in a bid to make Sri Lanka's agriculture "100 per cent organic".

Due to an acute shortage of foreign exchange, Sri Lanka recently defaulted on the entirety of its foreign debt amounting to about $51 billion.