Lankan protesters continue to demand Ranil’s resignation

Colombo : The anti-government protesters in Sri Lanka, who forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and quit, on Wednesday demanded the resignation of his successor Ranil Wickremesinghe who has been elected as the new President. The 73-year-old Acting President and six-time former prime minister secured 134 votes in the 225-member House while his nearest rival and dissident ruling party leader Dullas Alahapperuma got 82. He will take the oath of office on Thursday. The anti-government protesters had called for the resignation of Wickremesinghe, who was appointed prime minister in May. The protesters burnt down his private home and also stormed his prime ministerial office in Colombo in demonstrations against his leadership early this month. “He has been elected against the will of the people. The Rajapaksas have brought him in,” Father Jeewantha Peiris, a spokesman for the protest group Aragalaya’, told reporters.