President Forced To Flee – He Had No Other Choice
(DailyVantage.com) – Inflation in the US hit a 41-year high of 9.1% the week of July 10, but we’re far from the only ones suffering from strained economic conditions. Things have gotten so bad in Sri Lanka that the nation’s president agreed to step down. Then, facing enormous frustration from his constituents, he fled the country.
On Wednesday, July 13, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa boarded a Sri Lankan Air Force plane with his wife and two bodyguards and left for the Maldives. The citizens there weren’t happy either, lining the streets to protest the decision to provide refuge to Rajapaksa.
Protest in Maldives for giving refuge to Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa! pic.twitter.com/JLyel1JHfb
— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) July 13, 2022
An unnamed government source said Rajapaksa doesn’t plan to stay in the Maldives. Instead, reports say he’s headed to Singapore, where observers expect he’ll formally submit his resignation upon arriving.
Following President Rajapaksa’s departure, protestors immediately took over his palace and began partying on the lavish grounds. Pictures and videos surfaced of people sitting at his desk, splashing around in the pool, and using one of the showers on the property.
It wasn’t all fun and games, though. The same protestors who overtook the presidential palace also turned their ire on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who Rajapaksa appointed as interim president in his absence.
Rioters used tear gas and scaled the wall surrounding the prime minister’s home, forcing their way onto the property as the PM disappeared from public view. Wickremesinghe’s exact whereabouts or what comes next for the country remain unclear.
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