Should the President accept it, the Cabinet will stand dissolved as per Sri Lanka’s constitution
Should the President accept it, the Cabinet will stand dissolved as per Sri Lanka’s constitution
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned on Monday, his office said, hours after his supporters brutally assaulted peaceful anti-government protesters amid a worsening economic crisis in the island.
“The PM sent his letter of resignation to the President about two hours ago. I don’t know if it has been accepted,” Prime Minister’s media secretary Rohan Welivita told The Hindu.
Should the President accept it, the Cabinet will stand dissolved as per Sri Lanka’s constitution. It would demand the formation of a new, interim government under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who remains in office despite mounting calls for his resignation, as citizens protest his “failed” crisis response.
Earlier on Monday morning, hundreds gathered at Temple Trees, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s official residence. They chanted slogans expressing support to their beleaguered leader who, along with his younger brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is at the centre of anti-government protests in the island that is facing a grave economic crash, marked by acute food, fuel and cooking gas shortages.
“I am prepared to make any sacrifice for the people,” Mr. Mahinda told his supporters, hours before pro-government groups triggered violence, first outside the PM’s home and later at the sea-side tent city ‘Gota go gama’ or ‘Gota go village’ set up by demonstrators a month ago. Police unleashed tear gas and water cannons after tensions escalated but were unable to prevent the violence.
Mr. Mahinda made the remarks a day after visiting a famed Buddhist temple in Anuradhapura, where a group of protesters lined the road and booed as he passed by — a scene that was, until recently, unthinkable in any Sinhala-speaking area in the island, where the ethnic majority has hailed as “war victor”, since his government defeated the LTTE in 2009.