Sri Lanka: Protester Takeover of Presidential Palace Turns into 4-Day House Party

What appeared to be throngs of hundreds of protesters remained at the home of the president of Sri Lanka as of Tuesday after occupying the residence and sending President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing to an undisclosed location this weekend.

Rajapaksa — the last Rajapaksa family member still holding a top government position after months of protests forced several brothers and other relatives out of cabinet positions — agreed to step down from the presidency following the seizure of his home on Saturday. The president is expected to officially step down on Wednesday to allow for the country’s Parliament to organize an “all-party” unity government. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also agreed to step down this weekend after protesters burned his house down.

Wickremesinghe became prime minister for a second time in May after predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya’s brother, resigned in the wake of protesters burning his house down.

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is in the throes of the worst economic crisis in its history, the result of the Rajapaksa dynasty implementing dangerous “green” policies like banning chemical fertilizers and taking out large, risky loans as part of China’s predatory Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The fertilizer ban, an attempt to shift to 100 percent organic farming, resulted in Sri Lanka becoming dependent on imports for food, which it can no longer purchase because it ran out of foreign currency. Attempts to shift away from fossil fuels have resulted in daily power outrages and extreme gasoline and other oil and gas product shortages. People dying in hours-long lines for fuel has become a common-place occurrence throughout the year. – READ MORE