SRI LANKAN CRISIS: VIOLENT PROTESTERS SET PM RANIL WICKREMESINGHE’S RESIDENCE ABLAZE

(The Quiver) : On Saturday, Protesters set the private residence of Sri Lankan prime minister on fire in Colombo, multiple media reported.

AFP quoted police and his office, a mob stormed into Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s home in Colombo on Saturday evening and set it ablaze.

The incident comes hours after Wickremesinghe declared that he is resigning after party leaders in parliament demanded both he and president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down from their respective positions.

#WATCH | Sri Lanka: Amid massive unrest in the country, protestors set ablaze the private residence of Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe#SriLankaCrisis pic.twitter.com/BDkyScWpui
— ANI (@ANI) July 9, 2022

Opposition parties in Parliament were currently discussing the formation of a new government.“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 several matters to discuss with the IMF. Therefore, if this government leaves there should be another government,” a statement given by Wickremesinghe .

Protesters have broken into the private residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and have set it on fire – PM's office pic.twitter.com/yXGFvHbMKt
— Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) July 9, 2022

Earlier today, thousands of protesters stormed the residence of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. After storming the gates of the presidential palace, hundreds of people could be seen in live broadcasts on social media walking through its rooms, with some among the boisterous crowd jumping into the compound’s pool, AFP reported.

Troops guarding the residence fired in the air to hold the crowd back until Rajapaksa was safely removed.