Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has announced he will resign after protesters stormed his official residence on Saturday.
Gatekeepers News reports that the protesters also set the Prime Minister’s house on fire.
Neither the PM nor the president was in the buildings at the time.
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands descended on the capital Colombo, calling for Rajapaksa’s resignation after months of protests over economic mismanagement.
The President said he will step down on July 13, while PM Wickremesinghe has also agreed to resign.
The Speaker of parliament said Rajapaksa decided to step down “to ensure a peaceful handover of power” and called on the public to “respect the law”.
The announcement triggered an eruption of celebratory fireworks in the city.
Meanwhile, the pair are due to hold further meetings to discuss a smooth transition of power. The country’s military has, therefore, appealed to people to cooperate with security forces to maintain calm.
A Spokesperson for Colombo’s main hospital, while confirming to the AFP news agency that dozens of people were injured, noted that three people were being treated for gunshot wounds.
Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in 70 years as the country is suffering rampant inflation and struggling to import food, fuel, and medicine.
The country which has run out of foreign currency had to impose a ban on sales of petrol and diesel for private vehicles, leading to days-long queues for fuel.
The extraordinary events of Saturday appeared to be the culmination of months of mainly peaceful protests in Sri Lanka.
