Despite his flight, Rajapaksa's own resignation was not yet confirmed by early Thursday.
New Delhi:
Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was yet to resign on Thursday even as the anti-government protesters agreed to vacate key buildings overrun by them. Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on Wednesday and was expected to head to Singapore later today.
Here are the top 10 updates on this big story
- Sri Lanka's Parliament Speaker Yapa Abeywardena said that he is yet to receive the resignation letter from the President.
- Fearing backlash from civilians, President Rajapaksa has requested the Maldives government to arrange a private jet to fly him to Singapore, government sources in Maldives have said.
- The anti-government protesters, who forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from his official residence at the weekend, announced that they will vacate key buildings they have overrun.
- Protesters overran President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's palace at the weekend, forcing him to flee to the Maldives on Wednesday, when activists also entered the office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
- Demonstrators were in talks Thursday to hand back official buildings they seized, protest representatives said, even as they insisted the president and Prime Minister both quit in the face of an economic crisis. "There is a move to return the buildings back to the authorities," an activist involved in the #GotaGoHome campaign told AFP.
- Yesterday, the Lankan political leaders held an all-party meeting, where it was decided to let the parliament Speaker take over as the acting President. The office of Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has been asked to step down, said the ruling party and the opposition must form an all-party government.
- Tear gas shells were fired as thousands of people mobbed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office, took over his residence and pushed against the gates of the Lankan parliament.
- A curfew, imposed by Ranil Wickremsinghe over intensifying protests against the government in the state, has been lifted.
- The United Kingdom, Singapore and Bahrain have asked their citizens to avoid non-essential travel to the island nation.
- Protests against the economic crisis have simmered for months and came to a head last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people took over government buildings in Colombo, blaming the Rajapaksas and their allies for runaway inflation, shortages and corruption.
