Sri Lanka is experiencing its worst economic crisis in 70 years, with acute shortages of food and fuel, extended blackouts and surging prices. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled to the Maldives and an emergency has been imposed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. There are widespread protests across the island nation, and the Presidential palace has also not been spared. Many protesters entered the government building and were seen enjoying in the swimming pool or occupying the rooms.
In the midst of all this, a woman named Maduhansi Hasinthara decided to pay a visit to the President's residence in Colombo and clicked some photographs. Despite the protests, the photographs look like Ms Hasinthara visited the presidential palace like a tourist.
The pictures were shared by the woman herself on her Facebook account on July 12 that are gaining traction on social media. "At President's House, Colombo," reads the caption.
The 26 photos posted by her on Facebook show Ms Hasinthara on the bed, on chairs and sofas, next to a car, and on the lawn.
Users on the social media platform thought this was inappropriate and mocked the woman in the post's comments section, thinking how she meant to picture herself in the midst of a country's crisis.
"You should become New president of Sri Lanka," wrote a user.
"New tourist destination in Sri Lanka," said another user.
A third user wrote, "Making mockery of own country."
The post has received over 20,000 likes and thousands of comments. More than 8,000 users have re-shared the post on Facebook.
Sri Lanka plunged into economic crisis due to mismanagement of successive governments. The country's tourism sector - one of the biggest revenue generators for the economy - had been impacted hard by the 2019 serial bomb blasts across Colombo. The Covid pandemic worsened the situation.
