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BREAKING: Violent Protesters Clash With Police, Invade President’s Official Residence [PHOTOS/VIDEO]

Published

2 years ago

Jul 9, 2022.

Benard Joseph

Violent Protesters Clash With Police, Invade President’s Official Residence.
Violent protesters break police barricades and storm the president’s official residence in the capital Colombo.

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that thousands of protesters in Sri Lanka have broken through police barricades and stormed the president’s residence and office in one of the largest anti-government marches.

Some protesters, holding Sri Lankan flags and helmets, broke into President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s residence in the capital Colombo, video footage from local TV news channels showed on Saturday.

Troops fired in the air to prevent angry crowds from overrunning the President’s House, reports said, adding that the beleaguered 73-year-old leader has been moved to a secure but undisclosed location.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has called an emergency meeting of political party leaders amid growing anger over the government’s handling of an economic crisis.

Wickremesinghe also requested the speaker to summon parliament, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.

Many in the island nation of 22 million people blame the country’s decline on Rajapaksa. Largely peaceful protests since March have demanded his resignation.

Sri Lanka is struggling under a severe foreign exchange shortage that has limited essential imports of fuel, food and medicine, plunging it into the worst financial turmoil in 70 years.

Months of protests have nearly dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty that has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades.

One of Rajapaksa’s brothers resigned as prime minister last month, and two other brothers and a nephew quit their cabinet posts earlier.

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Wickremesinghe took over as prime minister in May and protests temporarily waned in the hope he could find cash for the country’s urgent needs. But people now want him to resign as well, saying he has failed to fulfil his promises.

Violent Protesters