Reuters :
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has authorized Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to carry out presidential duties, the speaker of parliament said on Wednesday after the president fled to the Maldives amid protests.
Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said Rajapaksa notified him of the change.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared a state of emergency in his role as the acting president, after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on Wednesday, leading to more protests amid an economic crisis.
“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, told Reuters.
The curfew comes into effect immediately.
As news of the president’s flight spread,
thousands of people gathered at the main protest site in Colombo chanting “Gota thief, Gota thief”, referring to him by a nickname.
Hundreds of others stormed the prime minister’s office, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The president’s flight brings an end to the rule of the powerful Rajapaksa clan that has dominated politics in the South Asian country for the last two decades.
