Sri Lanka’s Speaker of Parliament said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned on Thursday. Mahinda Yapa Abeyweardana said Friday that parliament would meet on Saturday to start the process of electing a new president. He expects to complete this procedure within seven days.
President Rajapaksa fled the country on Wednesday amid growing protests for him to step down due to an economic crisis.
Protesters who had occupied government buildings retreated on Thursday, restoring an uneasy calm.
Protesters accuse Mr Rajapaksa and his powerful political family of siphoning money from government coffers for years. They blame his administration for accelerating the country’s collapse by mismanaging the economy. The family denied allegations of corruption, but President Rajapaksa acknowledged that some of his policies had contributed to the economic collapse.
Months of protests reached a frenzied peak over the weekend when scores of protesters stormed the president’s home and office in addition to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s official residence. On Wednesday, they invaded Mr. Wickremesinghe’s office.
Protesters had initially vowed to continue to occupy these places until a new government is in place, but the movement changed tack on Thursday, apparently concerned about any escalation in violence that could harm their message in the aftermath of the previous night’s clashes outside Parliament that left dozens injured.
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