Sri Lanka declares state of emergency after president flees to Maldives

Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency Wednesday as thousands of people mobbed the prime minister's office after the country's president flew to the Maldives, following months of widespread protests against an economic crisis.

People visit Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official residence in Colombo on 12 July 12, 2022, after it was overrun by anti-government protestors on 9 July. © AFP/Arun Sankar

The 73-year-old leader fled his official residence in Colombo just before tens of thousands of protesters overran it on Saturday. He then wanted to fly to Dubai, officials said.

As president, Rajapaksa enjoys immunity from arrest, and he is believed to want to go abroad before stepping down to avoid the possibility of being detained.

He, his wife and two bodyguards were the four passengers on board an Antonov-32 military aircraft that took off from Sri Lanka's main international airport,.

• Sri Lanka president to step down after months of violent protests

Hours later, with no formal announcement he was stepping down, thousands of demonstrators mobbed the office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe  -  who would automatically become acting president in the event of a resignation - demanding both officeholders should go.

"Go home Ranil, Go home Gota," they shouted.

Police fired tear gas to hold them back from overrunning the compound and officials declared a nationwide state of emergency "to deal with the situation in the country", the prime minister's spokesman Dinouk Colombage told  French news agency AFP.

Inside the Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s official residence in Colombo this afternoon, a young man struck a tune on a piano.

Many thronging the stately colonial-era mansion, once the country’s most protected buildings, joined him.

This is Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya, the struggle. pic.twitter.com/WDQpXEyxXw

— Devjyot Ghoshal (@DevjyotGhoshal) July 12, 2022

Police imposed an indefinite curfew across the Western Province, which includes Colombo, "to contain the situation", a senior police officer said.

Rajapaksa's youngest brother Basil, who resigned in April as finance minister, missed his own Emirates flight to Dubai early Tuesday after a tense standoff with airport staff.

Basil - who holds US citizenship in addition to Sri Lankan nationality - tried to use a paid concierge service for business travellers, but airport and immigration staff said they had withdrawn from the fast track service.

"There were some other passengers who protested against Basil boarding their flight," said an airport official. "It was a tense situation, so he hurriedly left the airport."

Hasty retreat

Basil had to obtain a new US passport after leaving his behind at the presidential palace when the Rajapaksas beat a hasty retreat to avoid mobs on Saturday, a diplomatic source said.

Rajapaksa is accused of mismanaging the economy to a point where the country has run out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, leading to severe hardships for the 22 million population.

If he steps down as promised, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will automatically become acting president until parliament elects an MP to serve out the presidential term, which ends in November 2024.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51-billion foreign debt in April and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a possible bailout.

(with AFP)