Wednesday, May 11, 2022 – The Sri Lankan military helped rescue Sri Lanka’s outgoing Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, after protesters attacked his house pre-dawn military operation on Tuesday, May 10, just hours hours after his resignation.
The scenes followed an evening of violent clashes across Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo on Monday, during which at least seven people died according to police, although it is unclear if all of the deaths were directly related to the protests.
About 217 people were also injured as a result of the clashes, local health authorities reported.
On Tuesday morning, the military were called to the Prime Minister’s ‘Temple Trees’ compound after protesters tried to breach his private residence twice overnight according to Reuters.
The attackers managed to “enter the outer perimeter” of the residence where they hurled petrol bombs, but their attempts to enter the building were thwarted when the military fired tear gas, according to a security source who told Reuters.
A police officer involved in the clashes died at the scene when a tear gas gun exploded, the security official said, confirming that Prime Minister Rajapaksa and his family now been taken to an undisclosed location.
The embattled Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa quit on Monday evening shortly after a nationwide curfew was imposed. The curfew came after live television showed footage of government supporters, armed with sticks, beating protesters at several locations across the capital Colombo.
Protesters have been demonstrating for weeks against the government’s mishandling of an economic crisis in the country plus an increased cost of goods and services in the country.
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