Sri Lankan police used tear gas to disperse protesters outside the PM's residence

• Image Credit: Internet

• Jul 13, 2022 | Dhupali Das

Sri Lankan police used tear gas outside Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's Colombo residence to disperse protestors...

Digital Desk: Sri Lankan police used tear gas to disperse protestors outside  Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's residence in Colombo on Wednesday (July 13). As demonstrators assembled outside the Sri Lankan prime minister's residence in Colombo, gunshots fired in the air were also heard.

Earlier, demonstrators attempted to enter the PM's mansion, calling President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to resign. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister declared an emergency and enforced a curfew in the country's western province. A state of emergency was declared as demonstrators planned to be shelled with tear gas by security personnel stationed outside Wickremesinghe's residence. Around the PM's house, air patrolling also started.

Moreover, Wickremesinghe reportedly directed the security personnel to detain anyone behaving riotously.

Reportedly, amid the protest, the demonstrators provided water to the soldiers at the PM's mansion as a sign that humanity is still present.

"According to our constitution, if the President steps down, the Prime Minister takes over as President. This is why we want the PM to step down. People want both of them to leave. Police reacted by firing tear gas shells," said a former adviser to Sri Lanka's foreign affairs ministry.

Today, Sri Lankan officials declared that Gotabaya Rajapaksa had travelled to the Maldives by plane with his wife and two bodyguards with the complete consent of the nation's Defense Ministry. Reportedly, on a Sri Lankan Air Force aircraft, Gotabaya arrived at Male's Velana International Airport early this morning, which the Prime Minister's Office also confirmed.

Soon afterward, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, the speaker of the island nation's troubled parliament, said that Gotabaya still hadn't submitted a letter of resignation. "We haven't yet gotten President Gotabaya's resignation, but we hope to get one in a day," Abeywardena said. 

After a large number of protesters surrounded his official residence on July 9, the 73-year-old Gotabaya fled into hiding and declared his resignation on July 13.