Troops rescue outgoing Sri Lanka PM as houses torched in deadly night of unrest | Sri Lanka | The Gu

Troops rescue outgoing Sri Lanka PM as houses torched in deadly night of unrest | Sri Lanka | The GuardianSri Lanka has deployed thousands of troops and police to enforce a curfew after five people were killed in the worst violence in weeks of protests over an unprecedented economic crisis.Nearly 200 people were wounded on Monday as prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned, but that did little to calm public anger.Rajapaksa had to be rescued in a pre-dawn operation by the military on Tuesday after thousands of anti-government protesters stormed his official residence in Colombo overnight, with police firing teargas and warning shots to keep back the crowd.Protesters who forced their way into the capital’s “Temple Trees” residence then attempted to storm the main two-storey building where Rajapaksa was holed up with his immediate family.“After a pre-dawn operation, the former PM and his family were evacuated to safety by the army,” a top security official told AFP. “At least 10 petrol bombs were thrown into the compound.”Rajapaksa’s evacuation to an undisclosed location followed a day of violent protests in which five people, including a lawmaker, were killed and nearly 200 wounded.The security official said police kept up a barrage of teargas and fired warning shots in the air to hold back mobs at all three entrances to the colonial-era building, a key symbol of state power.Dozens of homes of top Rajapaksa loyalists were torched elsewhere in the curfew-bound country, which has been under a state of emergency since Friday.The emergency order from president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the outgoing premier’s younger brother, gave sweeping powers to the military as protests demanding the duo’s resignation escalated over the country’s worst-ever economic crisis.Protesters and Sri Lankan religious leaders blamed the former prime minister for instigating the family’s supporters to attack unarmed protesters on Monday, sparking retaliatory attacks.Rajapaksa’s resignation follows months of protests over the country’s deepening economic crisis, as once-peaceful protests turned violent. Turmoil began to engulf the country on Monday after violence at a major protest site in Colombo, where pro-government supporters attacked demonstrators and police responded with teargas and water cannon.In one incident just outside Colombo, a politician from the ruling party opened fire on anti-government protesters blocking his car, killing a 27-year-old, and then later took his own life. According to police, another ruling party politician opened fire on protesters in the southern town of Weeraketiya, killing two and wounding five.Mahinda Rajapaksa had been asked to resign by his brother at a special meeting on Friday, in an attempt to appease demonstrators who have been taking to the streets in their thousands since March.  … -- source link

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