Emergency and curfew to be imposed to bring unrest situation under control: Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe

Acting President- Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said an emergency and curfew will be imposed immediately to control the fascist elements that are trying to destabilize the Sri Lankan state through protests. 

“The fascist forces are trying to gain power, some traditional politicians too have joined it. Therefore the situation arose today. The defence authorities advised me to impose an emergency law and curfew, accordingly I will impose both emergency law and curfew. We have to eradicate the fascist threat and protect the houses of common people.” Acting President Wickremesinghe said in a brief statement today.

“The President's House, Temple Trees, and the Presidential Secretariat cannot be forcefully occupied, we cannot allow the documents at those places to go missing. I have ordered the security forces to use emergency law and curfew to normalize the situation,” he said.

Accordingly, a committee consisting of the chief of defence staff, commanders of three forces as well as the Inspector General of police are given the power to normalize the situation. “There will be no political intervention. They are informed to report to me when it is done,” 

He said that defence authorities were concerned about some information received by the state intelligence that some groups among the Galle Face protesters had organized to storm the Prime Minister’s office and Air Force Commander's residence since Air Force provided a plane for the President to fly abroad to the Maldives. They also planned to encircle the Army and Navy Commanders' residences,”

“They tried to obtain power by engaging with this kind of activities and they also planned to encircle Parliament. Fortunately, Speaker had spoken to the Chief of Defence Staff. He (Chief of Defence staff) also agreed that they would protect the Parliament, therefore they were unable to make it to Parliament,”

“I have become acting President legally and would be joining the Speaker to appoint a new President for the country. They want to stop that and select their own candidate. Some even have said that the Constitution of the country is useless, and Parliament is useless therefore what they are saying should be implemented,” Acting President Wickremesinghe said.

Meanwhile former President Maithripala Sirisena, in the capacity of the Chairman of the SLFP has issued a 10-point plan to overcome the crisis.

Among the key points are that both, President and Prime Minister should resign immediately, the Speaker should serve as the Acting President until the new President is elected, and a National Executive Council comprising of party leaders represented in Parliament should be formed to have an All-Party Government, a President and Prime Minister should be appointed after consultations between the National Executive Council, civil rights activist, professionals and academics and a limited cabinet should be named. 

At least 30 persons have been injured during the protest in front of the Prime Minister's Office at Flower road and are currently admitted to Colombo National hospital, hospital sources said. 

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said that the President has informed him that while he is away from the country, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will act to carry out the functions of the office of the Presidency, in terms of article 37/1 of the Constitution. 

Earlier today, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe directed police to impose a curfew in Western province and declared an island-wide state of emergency in his capacity as Acting President, according to the PM office. 

The PM office also said that the Premier ordered to arrest persons who engage in unruly activities damaging public properties. 

Meanwhile, fresh protests have been launched demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe hours after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife Ioma left Sri Lanka to Maldives.

The protesters first near the Prime Minister’s office on Flower Road, Colombo 07 and then march to the private residence of Mr Wickremesinghe which was burnt down on Saturday. There is a heavy deployment of security forces around the area.

Protesters have claimed that they would next head to the Parliament. Earlier President Rajapaksa left on a Sri Lanka on an Airforce flight to the Maldives leaving the country in suspense without handing over his resignation or making acting arrangements.

The Air Force and the Prime Minister’s office in two separate statements confirmed that the President left earlier in the day.

A senior government official said that the President has so far not handed in his resignation to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena or the President’s Secretary Gamini Senarath. 

President Rajapaksa will hand over his resignation only after reaching his final 'destination'; according to a Rajapaksa family source. However, the destination has not been disclosed so far. 

Early this morning, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife Ioma left Sri Lanka to Maldives on a Sri Lanka on an Airforce flight leaving the country in suspense without handing over his resignation or making acting arrangements.

The Air Force and the Prime Minister’s office in two separate statements confirmed that the President left earlier in the day.

A senior government official said that the President has so far not handed in his resignation to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena or the President’s Secretary Gamini Senarath. 

The Speaker's office confirmed that President a Rajapaksa also did not appoint an  Acting President before his departure.

“We are undecided as on how we should be acting in the absence of a letter of resignation”, a senior official told Times online. 

The Airforce in a statement said they had provided the aircraft on the approval of the Defence Ministry and they had left from the Bandaranaike International Airport keeping with Immigration rules to Maldives earlier in the day.

The Prime Minister’s office in a brief statement confirmed the departure of the President. 

Meanwhile, India denied speculative media reports that India facilitated the recently reported travel of President  Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa out of Sri Lanka. 

“It is reiterated that India will continue to support the people of Sri Lanka as they seek to realize their aspirations for prosperity and progress through democratic means and values, established democratic institutions and constitutional framework,”- Indian High Commission in Colombo said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, there were conflicting reports about former Minister Basil Rajapaksa. Foreign media reports said that he had left the country and was heading to the US while a close aide claimed that he was still in the country.