Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has informed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that he will resign, the prime minister’s office said on Monday after tens of thousands of protesters stormed the official residences of both men.
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After Saturday’s sweeping protests in the wake of a debilitating economic crisis, the speaker of parliament said Rajapaksa would resign on Wednesday. However, there has been no direct word from Rajapaksa on his plans.
Wickremesinghe has said he would also step down to allow an all-party interim government to take over.
Leaders of the protest movement have said crowds would keep occupying the residences of the president and prime minister in Colombo until they finally quit office.
Colombo, Sri Lanka’s largest city, was calm on Monday as hundreds of people strolled into the president’s secretariat and residence and toured the colonial-era buildings. Police made no attempt to stop anyone.
“We are not going anywhere till this president leaves and we have a government that is acceptable to the people,” said Jude Hansana, 31, who has been at a protest site outside the residence since early April.
“The people’s struggle is for wider political reforms. Not just for the president to leave. This is just the start.”
The president has been blamed for the country’s economic mismanagement, which has caused dire shortages of food, fuel, and medicine for months. His resignation was first announced by the Parliament Speaker on Saturday, but many Sri Lankans responded with skepticism to the idea that he would relinquish power.
On Monday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office said in a statement that it had been informed by Mr. Rajapaksa that he would resign on Wednesday.
But under the Sri Lankan constitution, his resignation can only be officially accepted when he resigns by letter to the Speaker – something that has not yet happened.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had earlier said he would resign. His house was set on fire during Saturday’s riots.
