Protestors who had gathered outside Sri Lanka PM’s office have taken over his residence at Flower Road. Security personnel today resorted to tear-gas shelling to drive away protestors on the streets of Colombo.
These reports come as the embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who escaped to the Maldives. appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the interim President of Sri Lanka. Wickremesinghe today declared an emergency and imposed a curfew in the western province of the country as protesters came prepared to face tear gas shelling by security forces deployed outside Wickremesinghe’s residence.
“PM becomes acting President only if the President appoints him as such, or if the office of President is vacant, or if the CJ in consultation with the Speaker forms the view that the President is unable to act,” Premadasa tweeted. “In the absence of any of these, the PM cannot exercise the powers of President, and cannot declare curfew or a state of emergency,” he said in another tweet.