Colombo: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered the military to do “whatever is necessary to restore order” in the country after protesters stormed his office on Wednesday.
Wickremesinghe gave this order after he was appointed as the acting president by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who earlier in the day fled the country.
This decision by President Gotabaya triggered further protests demanding that the prime minister must also go.
Most Sri Lankan’s blame the Rajapaksa government for the present economic crisis and see Wickremesinghe, who was appointed as the prime minister in May, as part of the problem.
On Wednesday, for the second time in less than a week, protesters broke into a highly secure state building. This time it was the prime minister’s office.
In a television address, Wickremesinghe called on the protesters to leave his occupied office and other state buildings and co-operate with authorities, which was ignored by the demonstrators.
“Our goal is for Gota to go home. And Ranil and other cabinet members to go home,” one protester at the prime minister’s office said. (UNI)
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