Sri Lanka’s prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, announced his resignation on Saturday, July 9, as thousands of protesters descended on the country’s capital, storming through police barricades and invading the presidential residence.
Wickremesinghe, who is also the country’s finance minister, took to Twitter to say that he was stepping aside to make way for an all-party government to take over the country in the wake of the protests over rampant inflation and fuel and food shortages, according to New York Post.
“To ensure the continuation of the Government including the safety of all citizens I accept the best recommendation of the party leaders today, to make way for an all-party government,” Wickremesinghe tweeted.
“To facilitate this, I will resign as prime minister.”
Earlier in the day, thousands of protesters broke through police barriers and stormed the official residence of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the commercial capital of Colombo.
A viral video footage showed the protesters wandering through the residence and swimming in the pool.
Rajapaksa, who has not resigned, was taken away by security forces, and is in a safe location.
According to reports, Sri Lanka is suffering through its worst economic crisis in decades, with shortages of fuel, food and medicine, and protests have been building since March throughout the country.
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