Sri Lanka's president Gotabaya Rajapaksa plans to step down, the country's parliamentary speaker said, bowing to pressure after a violent day of protests
The announcement, following the dramatic escalation in months of largely peaceful anti-government protests over a dire economic crisis on the Indian Ocean island of 22 million people, triggered an eruption of celebratory fireworks in the city.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSpeaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said in a video statement that Rajapaksa had informed him that he would step down from his post on Wednesday.
Police fired shots in the air but were unable to stop the crowd from surrounding the presidential residence, a witness said.Inside the president's whitewashed colonial-era residence, a Facebook livestream showed hundreds of protesters, some draped in the national flag, packing into rooms and corridors.
Later on Saturday, video footage on local news channels showed a huge fire and smoke coming from Wickremesinghe's private home in an affluent Colombo neighbourhood. His office said that protesters had started the fire. Soaring inflation, which reached a record 54.6% in June and is expected to hit 70% in the coming months, has heaped hardship on the population.The decision by the president and prime minister to step aside came after Wickremesinghe held talks with several political party leaders to decide what steps to take following the unrest.
"Under the acting president the present parliament can appoint a new prime minister and an interim government," said the letter released by the Speaker's office.
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