Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said in a televised statement on Saturday that he informed Rajapaksa of a decision made at a meeting of parliamentary party leaders asking him to step down, and he agreed. However, Rajapaksa will remain president until Wednesday to ensure a smooth transition of power, Abeywardena added. The announcement came hours after protesters stormed the president’s official residence to vent their anger over the country’s severe economic crisis. Demonstrators also broke into the prime minister’s private residence and set it on fire. THIS IS AN UPDATE UPDATE. Previous AP story follows below. Protesters stormed the private residence of Sri Lanka’s prime minister and set it on fire on Saturday, hours after he said he would step down when a new government is formed, in the biggest day of angry protests that also saw crowds storm the president’s home and office. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office said protesters forced their way into his home in Colombo in the evening. It was not immediately clear if he was inside at the time. Wickremesinghe earlier announced he would step down in response to calls from political leaders for him and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down, after tens of thousands of people flocked to the capital to vent their anger over the country’s economic and political crisis. “Today in this country we have a fuel crisis, a food shortage, we have the head of the World Food Program coming here and we have many issues to discuss with the IMF. So if this government goes, there should be another government,” Wickremesinghe said. But he made it clear he would not step down before a new government was formed, angering crowds who moved near his home to demand his immediate departure. Wickremesinghe said he suggested the president have an all-party government, but said nothing about Rajapaksa’s whereabouts. The opposition parties in Parliament were discussing the formation of a new government. Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesinghe as prime minister in May in the hope that the career politician would use his diplomacy and contacts to revive a battered economy. But people’s patience ran out as shortages of fuel, medicine and cooking gas increased and oil reserves ran low. Many protesters accuse Wickremesinghe of trying to save Rajapaksa when she came under pressure to resign and every other member of his powerful political dynasty resigned from the cabinet. Private Sirasa TV reported that at least six of its staff, including four reporters, were hospitalized after being beaten by police while covering the demonstration near Wickremesinghe’s home. The Medical Council of Sri Lanka, the country’s top professional body, warned that the country’s hospitals were operating with minimal resources and would not be able to handle mass casualties from the riots. The association said the president, prime minister and government would be held responsible if people died or were maimed. He urged leaders to listen to the cry of the people, step down and hand over the reins to an all-party government. Mobs earlier on Saturday stormed Rajapaksa’s fortified residence. Footage showed people in a happy mood taking a dip in the residence’s swimming pool garden. Some lay on beds, others made tea and drank and made “statements” from the conference room that Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe must stop immediately. It was not clear whether Rajapaksa was inside his residence when the storm hit. A government spokesman, Mohan Samaranayake, said he had no information about his movements. Leaders of political parties in parliament later met and decided to ask Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe to resign, opposition lawmaker Rauf Hakim said on Twitter. He said a consensus was reached that the speaker of the House should take over as interim president and work for an interim government. Sri Lanka’s economy is in shambles, relying on aid from India and other countries as its leaders try to negotiate a bailout with the International Monetary Fund. The economic collapse has led to severe shortages of essential goods, making it difficult for people to buy food, fuel and other basic necessities. The unrest has led to months of protests, which have nearly dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty that has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades. The president’s older brother resigned as prime minister in May after violent protests prompted him to seek safety at a naval base. Much of the public anger has focused on the Rajapaksa family, with protesters accusing them of dragging Sri Lanka into chaos with mismanagement and corruption allegations. At the president’s waterfront office, security personnel tried to stop protesters who pushed through fences to cross the lawn and into the colonial-era building. At least 34 people, including two police officers, were injured in clashes as protesters tried to enter the residence. Two of the injured are in critical condition while others suffered minor injuries, said an official at the Colombo National Hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Thousands of protesters entered the capital from the suburbs after police lifted an overnight curfew. With fuel supplies running low, many crowded buses and trains into the city to protest, while others made their way on bicycles and on foot. Protesters and religious leaders called on Rajapaksa to step down, saying he had lost the people’s mandate. “His claim that he was voted by the Sinhalese Buddhists does not hold true now,” said Ven. Omalpe Sobitha, a prominent Buddhist leader. He urged Parliament to convene immediately to choose an interim president, but said Wickremesinghe did not enjoy popular support. Last month, Wickremesinghe said the country’s economy had collapsed. He said negotiations with the IMF were complicated because Sri Lanka was now a bankrupt state. In April, Sri Lanka announced it was suspending foreign loan repayments due to a shortage of foreign currency. Its total foreign debt is $51 billion, of which it must repay $28 billion by the end of 2027. Police had imposed a curfew in Colombo and several other major urban areas on Friday night, but lifted it on Saturday morning amid objections from lawyers and opposition politicians who called it illegal. US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung on Friday called on people to demonstrate peacefully and called on the military and police to “give peaceful protesters the space and safety to do so”. “Chaos and force will not fix the economy or bring the political stability that Sri Lankans need right now,” Chung said in a tweet. ——— Associated Press writers Bharatha Mallawarachi in Colombo, Sri Lanka and Krutika Pathi in New Delhi contributed to this report.
