Ranil Wickremesinghe takes over as acting president of Sri Lanka

|HT|

Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday took over as the acting president, hours after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to Maldives amid protests against him in the country. "The prime minister as acting president has declared a state of emergency (countrywide) and imposed a curfew in the western province," Wickremesinghe's media secretary, Dinouk Colombage said. The curfew comes into effect immediately. The protests across the island nation continues as the protesters have now demanded that Wickremesinghe must resign. A mob of angry protesters stormed the Lankan prime minister's residence, braving the tear gas shells by security forces.

Earlier in the day, Rajapaksa fled the country and arrived in Maldives where he was received by speaker Mohamed Nasheed. He had yielded to the protesters' demand of resignation from the post of president and agreed to resign today.

Protests against the Rajapaksas have continued for months and intensified last weekend when thousands of protesters stormed the presidential palace and the prime minister's residence. The protesters have blamed the Rajapaksa family for the economic crisis in the country which has left the citizens struggling for fuel, food and medicines.

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