Sri Lanka: Army Crackdown On Protestors Blocking President’s Secretariat, Tents Dismantled

Sri Lankan security forces on Friday removed a group of anti-government protesters, which continued to occupy the President’s Secretariat in Columbo.

Visuals from the vicinity of Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat, Galle Face in Colombo where an armed forces cracked down on protestors as the crisis-laden country continues to simmer.

Source : ANI

New Delhi: Sri Lankan security forces on Friday removed a group of anti-government protesters, which continued to occupy the President’s Secretariat in Columbo following Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation as president.

According to news agency PTI, the protesters had vacated the President and Prime Minister’s residences as well as the Prime Minister’s office earlier after capturing them on July 9, they were still occupying some rooms of the President’s secretariat at the Galle Face.

A large number of protestors confronted armed security personnel when they set up barricades outside the premises of the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat in Colombo, news agency ANI reported. The soldiers were deployed to control the protestors who have been protesting against the new Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe outside the premises of the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat. 

Anti-government protesters returned to Colombo on Wednesday after Parliament voted in six-time Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as the island country’s new president.

The protesting citizens refused to accept Wickremesinghe, 73, as the new president, holding him partly responsible for the country’s economic and political crisis.

#WATCH | Sri Lanka: Massive confrontation erupts between protestors and armed security personnel as the latter sets up barricading outside the premises of the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat in Colombo #SriLanka pic.twitter.com/5sUoy8zRmN

— ANI (@ANI) July 21, 2022

The protesters had been at the Secretariat’s gate since April 9 when they started their anti-government protest that eventually resulted in Rajapaksa’s resignation as president last week.

A group of protesters posted on social media on Thursday that they were planning to end their protest by 2 pm on Friday.

According to PTI, the main protest group which blocked entry to the President's Office since April 9, said they would continue their struggle till Wickremesinghe resigned.

“Our victory would come only when we are able to form the people's Assembly," Lahiru Weerasekera, a group spokesman said.

Tents of protestors were dismantled by the armed security personnel outside the premises of the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat.

#WATCH | Sri Lanka: Tents of protestors being dismantled by the armed security personnel amid a late-night clampdown outside the premises of the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat in Colombo pic.twitter.com/yuhRWU0lRj

— ANI (@ANI) July 21, 2022

"Ranil Wickremesinghe wants to destroy us, they are again doing this, but we will never give up. We want to make our country free of such nasty politics," said a protestor amid an armed forces crackdown, as quoted by ANI.

Wickremesinghe Warns Protestors, Set To Swear-In New Cabinet

Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was sworn in as the eighth President of Sri Lanka on Thursday, said last night that the occupation of government buildings was illegal, warning that legal action would be taken against their occupiers, PTI reported.

The new president stressed he would extend support to peaceful protesters but would be tough on those who try to promote violence under the guise of peaceful protests.

Last week, protesters set Wickremesinghe’s personal residence on fire and occupied his office during protests.

Meanwhile, the newly sworn-in President has made arrangements to swear in his cabinet on Friday at the Prime Minister’s office. Such ceremonies usually take place in the Secretariat which was under the control of protesters since July 9 when Rajapaksa fled to Male before sending his resignation from Singapore last week.

Rajapaksa was forced to flee the country following a mass uprising due to his mishandling of the economy brought Sri Lanka to its knees. After holding on since April despite the massive protests, Rajapaksa resigned in exile in Singapore.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is facing unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades which left millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel, and other essentials.

In several major cities, including Colombo, hundreds are forced to stand in line for hours to buy fuel, sometimes clashing with police and the military as they wait.

The country, with an acute foreign currency crisis that resulted in foreign debt default, announced in April that it was suspending nearly USD 7 billion foreign debt repayment due for this year out of about USD 25 billion due through 2026.

Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt stands at USD 51 billion.

(With Agency Inputs)