The Sri Lankan army evacuated resigning Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa from his official residence in Colombo on Tuesday, May 10 before dawn, to place him in a safe place after thousands of demonstrators forced one of the gates of the complex.
To discover
LIVE - War in Ukraine: follow minute by minute the evolution of the conflict
Read alsoSri Lanka on the brink
“
After an operation carried out before dawn, the former prime minister and his family were evacuated to a safe place by the army
,” a senior security official told AFP.
After breaking through the main gate of Mahinda Rajapaksa's “
Temple Trees
” residence in Colombo, protesters attempted to storm the two-story main building where President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's brother had taken refuge with his family.
"
At least 10 incendiary bombs were thrown into the complex
," the senior official said.
Also according to this senior official, the police used a wall of tear gas and fired warning shots in the air to prevent the crowd from passing the three entrances to the complex dating from the colonial era, a key symbol of the power of the state.
serious economic crisis
In the aftermath of the deadliest day in recent weeks which led to his resignation, the former prime minister was taken to safety in an undisclosed location.
Clashes between his supporters and anti-government protesters on Monday left five dead, including an MP, and nearly 200 injured.
Sri Lankan protesters and religious leaders blame the former prime minister for inciting family clan supporters to attack peaceful anti-government protesters, prompting reprisals.
The country has been plagued for several weeks by demonstrations denouncing the government's inability to cope with shortages of food, fuel and medicine marking the most serious economic crisis it has known since its independence in 1948. Dozens of homes belonging to Rajapaksa supporters were burned elsewhere in the country, subject to a curfew.
Read alsoSri Lanka: the Rajapaksa brothers extend their influence
On Friday, President Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency for the second time in five weeks, granting sweeping powers to the security forces, including authorizing them to arrest suspects and detain them for long periods without judicial supervision.
It also authorizes the deployment of soldiers to maintain order, in support of the police.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/OVZCGQIPNRCIBCIUUSONZAFQAQ.jpg)
