© Reuters. Protesters celebrate after entering the building of Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe office, amid the country’s economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka July 13, 2022. REUTERS / Adnan Abidi
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COLOMBO (Reuters) – A deepening economic crisis in Sri Lanka has sparked massive protests that have forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to leave the country, prompting his successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, to ban declared a state of emergency while seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
On Friday, the day after Wickremesinghe was sworn in, security forces launched a pre-dawn raid on a protest camp that was seizing government properties in Colombo and clearing part of it. in there.
Here are some key developments of the crisis:
March 31, 2022: Protesters march to the residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to protest the worsening economic situation.
April 3: Rajapaksa dissolves the cabinet, which includes younger brother Basil Rajapaksa as finance minister, but brother Mahinda Rajapaksa continues as prime minister.
April 9: Protests escalate, with demonstrations sitting outside Rajapaksa’s office calling for the removal of the president to make way for political reforms.
May 9: After widespread clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigns. Violence across the country left nine people dead and about 300 injured.
July 9: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa informs the speaker of parliament that he plans to resign on July 13, after protesters stormed the official presidential residence. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says he is also open to resigning.
July 13: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees Sri Lanka, initially to the Maldives, before moving to Singapore.
July 14: Rajapaksa submits his resignation hours after arriving in Singapore.
July 15: Parliament accepts Rajapaksa’s resignation, Ranil Wickremesinghe is sworn in as president.
July 18: Wickremesinghe declares a state of emergency.
July 20: Wickremesinghe wins the parliamentary vote to become the new president.
July 22: Sri Lankan security forces raid a protest camp occupying government properties in the main city of Colombo and partially clear it, arresting nine people.
(Reporting Devjyot Ghoshal and Uditha Jayasinghe, edited by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; edited by Simon Cameron-Moore)
