Shots Heard Near House of Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister - Report

© AFP 2023 / ISHARA S. KODIKARAA vehicle belonging to the security personnel and a bus set alight is pictured near Sri Lanka's outgoing Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's official residence in Colombo May 9, 2022.
A vehicle belonging to the security personnel and a bus set alight is pictured near Sri Lanka's outgoing Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's official residence in Colombo May 9, 2022. - Sputnik International, 1920, 09.05.2022
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Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned on 9 May, after weeks of protests that rocked the country as people expressed their discontent with the government's policies amid an economic crisis Sri Lanka currently finds itself in.
Shots were fired from inside the official residence of Sri Lanka's prime minister on Monday, AFP reports, adding that thousands of protesters breached the main gate of the compound and set fire to a truck at the entrance.
Police resorted to using tear gas in order to drive back the protesters, who were "retaliating against an attack on them earlier in the day by those loyal to the outgoing premier" Mahinda Rajapaksa, as the media outlet put it.
The authorities reportedly confirmed that shots were fired in the air to keep the protesters from breaching the inner security ring of the residence where Rajapaksa was "holed up".
Earlier today, Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's resignation was announced by his spokesman Rohan Weliwita.
The spokesman explained that the prime minister had sent a letter of resignation to his younger brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, clearing the way for a "new unity government".
Протестующие блокируют дорогу в Рамбуккане, Шри-Ланка - Sputnik International, 1920, 09.05.2022
Ruling Party MP Killed, 139 Injured as Violent Anti-Government Protests Rock Sri Lanka
On Monday, Sri Lanka's government imposed a nationwide curfew and deployed the army in the capital amid violent clashes between government supporters and anti-government demonstrators.
Sri Lankans has been dealing with a severe economic crisis that broke out after the country lost the vital income it had traditionally received from tourism and remittances, with the said losses coming amid the global coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the disease.
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