The prime minister of Sri Lanka’s official residence has reportedly been set on fire during mass protests over the country’s economic crisis, just hours after he announced his resignation.
Earlier on Saturday, tens of thousands of demonstrators breached police barricades to storm the presidential palace in Colombo, with Ranil Wickremesinghe announcing he would step down as PM shortly afterwards.
Footage carried by the BBC and Indian broadcaster NDTV appeared to show smoke and the flicker of flames emanating from the prime minister’s residence in the capital, where unrest between demonstrators and police is reported to have intensified in recent hours.
The office of Mr Wickremesinghe told the Associated Press that the protesters forced their way into his home on Saturday evening.
It is not immediately clear if he was inside at the time of the attack.
Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is reported to have fled the palace hours before it was swarmed by protesters, who were filmed feasting in the palace’s kitchens and swimming in the pool.
Mr Rajapaksa was taken to safety after demonstrators amassed outside the palace gates, and he is being protected by a military unit, a senior defence source told Agence France-Presse.
His whereabouts are currently unknown, and according to the BBC there are rumours that he is attempting to flee the country “at any moment”.
Mr Wickremesinghe – who was appointed by the president in May, to a role he has held five times previously without ever completing a full term – said earlier that he would resign only when all parties agree on a new government, angering crowds near his home demanding he step down immediately.
“Today in this country we have a fuel crisis, a food shortage, we have the head of the World Food Programme coming here and we have several matters to discuss with the IMF. Therefore, if this government leaves there should be another government,” Mr Wickremesinghe said.
In a dramatic resumption of anti-government protests which began in March, people from across the island nation of 22 million boarded overcrowded buses and trains to descend upon Colombo on Saturday.
Sri Lankan police had attempted to use tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds, and a curfew was imposed on Friday night only to be withdrawn hours later. One defence official suggested the measure – branded illegal by lawyers and opposition politicians – had only “encouraged more people to get on the streets in defiance”.
More follows…
