Sri Lanka: Public anger palpable as Gotabaya actually goes

As mayhem continued to unfold on Colombo’s streets on Wednesday (July 13), Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced that Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as Acting President as per Article 37(1) of the Constitution.

Wickremesinghe had earlier imposed a curfew and a state of emergency, instructing the police and military to arrest unruly protestors. The move was decried by activists and opposition figures as “blatantly illegal”.

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In a video statement released soon after the announcement that he had been made Acting President, Wickremesinghe denounced the protestors who occupied the PM’s office as those intent on taking the country towards fascism. He reminded that at the party leaders’ meeting held on July 9, he had said he was prepared to step down once an all-party government was in place. “We had agreed to summon Parliament on July 15. Some who were interested in becoming President also started canvassing for support. So a democratic process was in place.”

Intelligence reports however, had revealed that though a process had been initiated to elect a new President, those involved in the “Aragalaya” (The Struggle), were planning to occupy the Prime Minister’s office. They were also planning to lay siege to the residence of the commander of the Air Force, accusing him of aiding the President to leave for Maldives. Plans were also in place to lay siege to the houses of the commanders of the army and the navy, he claimed. “Their plan was to take power through these means.”

Wickremesinghe insisted he had imposed a curfew and an emergency on the advice of the security forces and the police. A committee comprising the Chief of Defence Staff, Commanders of the armed forces and the Inspector General of Police have been given powers to take necessary measures to implement emergency law and the curfew so that normalcy can be restored, he further said.

Subsequent to Wickremesinghe’s statement, the military and police top brass released their own statement. In it, Chief of Defence Staff General Shavendra Silva said the military and police had always acted in accordance with the Constitution. “We requested the Speaker to call a party leaders’ meeting and make public, measures that will be taken between the time of the President’s resignation and the appointment of an Acting President. We trust that the Speaker and the party leaders will do this,” he stressed. The statement seemed to suggest that the military and police establishment are distinctly uneasy with the unfolding situation and are asking political leaders to defuse tensions.

An urgent party leaders’ meeting was convened on Wednesday evening, where party leaders demanded that Wickremesinghe resign before President Rajapaksa sent his resignation, effectively preventing him from functioning as Acting President and making way for the Speaker to be appointed instead. It was discussed “that the Prime Minister should resign from his position as soon as possible to resolve the current crisis situation in the country,” a statement from Parliament’s Communication Department said on Wednesday night.

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The statement also said that the Speaker had also conveyed to the party leaders that the President had informed him via phone that his resignation letter will be submitted before 12 midnight on the 13th as he had announced to the country. This however, proved false as the resignation letter was not submitted by the midnight deadline.

Rajapaksa to fly to Singapore

Earlier, Rajapaksa fled the island on a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) plane to the Maldives in the early hours of Wednesday. He was met at the Velana International Airport by Maldivian authorities. Reports last evening said Rajapaksa was to fly from Maldives to Singapore, from where he was expected to submit his resignation to Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena.

There were earlier reports that former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, a brother of the President, had also fled abroad but this was denied by Immigration officials. Basil Rajapaksa, a dual US citizen, arrived at the country’s main airport just outside Colombo to board an Emirates Flight to Dubai on Tuesday (July 12) from where he was to board a flight to Washington. As he tried to make his way via the VIP “Silk Route” passenger clearance terminal at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), passengers who were nearby protested angrily, forcing him to turn back.

The Sri Lanka Immigration and Emigration Officers’ Association (SLIEOA) subsequently said their officers will stay away from duty at the Silk Route terminal until further notice to prevent families of politicians from leaving the country. Emigration services at the terminal have since been suspended.

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As reports filtered in that President Rajapaksa had fled abroad, there were first celebrations at the multiple protest sites in Colombo that had sprung up since July 9 when protestors entered and occupied President’s House, the Presidential Secretariat and “Temple Trees,” the official residence of the Prime Minister. The celebrations quickly turned sour however, as it became clear that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, whose resignation had also been demanded by protestors, was not going to resign. Hundreds of protestors then started marching from the main protest site next to the Presidential Secretariat up to the Prime Minister’s office, situated about 4 kilometres away.

They were met by security barricades manned by police and armed forces personnel. Multiple rounds of tear gas and water cannon were fired at protestors as they tried to move towards the PM’s office. Some protestors picked up tear gas canisters and hurled them back towards where they came.

One protester dies

The PM’s office is situated in a residential area next to a leading private girls’ school. Smoke from tear gas even drifted onto houses on both sides of the road. Some protestors were completely overcome and had to be rushed to hospital. Whenever a group were hit and injured however, others came forward to take their place. Many were young men and women but there were even some elderly persons among the crowd. People urged each other on with cries of “Aragalayata Jaya Wewa” (Long Live the Struggle). Eventually, just as they did on July 9, protestors overwhelmed those guarding the PM’s office by sheer weight of numbers. The army and police stood down and the building fell into the protestors’ hands.

It came at a heavy price however. Over 40 persons, mostly protestors and several security personnel were injured and hospitalized. A 26-year-old protestor who suffered from breathing difficulties from inhaling tear gas later died in hospital.

After taking over the building, protestors swiftly opened it for public viewing, as they had done with the buildings taken over on July 9.

Some protestors also stormed the premises of the state owned Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, forcing it off the air briefly. Another state owned TV channel, the Independent Television Network, also briefly suspended their telecast.

Meanwhile, sporadic clashes occurred between security personnel and protestors as they tried to storm the Speaker’s official residence and the nearby Parliament complex. The move to gather near Parliament had been controversial, with some groups affiliated to the Struggle encouraging protestors to gather near Parliament while others were distancing themselves from the call, appealing to crowds to refrain from trying to occupy Parliament. Clashes continued well into Wednesday night, with more than 30 being admitted to hospital.