Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees as protesters storm residence

Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees as protesters storm residence

Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees as protesters storm residence

PTI 

Colombo : At least seven people, including two policemen, were injured in clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters who had gathered in large numbers in central Colombo's Fort area demanding the resignation of President Gotabya Rajapaksa.

Tens of thousands of protesters broke police barriers blocking the President's House where Rajapaksa has been housed since late March when the island-wide protests raged calling for his resignation.

At least seven people, including 2 policemen, were injured and admitted to the Colombo national hospital on Saturday, officials said.

The police fired teargas at two access roads to the President's House -- Chatham Street and Lotus Road -- but the defiant protesters continued unabated.

The protesters also clashed with the railway authorities at provincial towns of Galle, Kandy and Matara as the demonstrators forced authorities to operate trains to Colombo.

Large contingents of police, special task force and the Army had been deployed around the area.

The organisers of the movement ‘Whole Country to Colombo' said people were walking from the suburbs to join the protesters at Colombo Fort.

Protesters said they wouldn’t relent until Rajapaksa quit the presidency.

Sri Lankan Police had earlier in the day lifted the curfew imposed in seven divisions in the country's Western Province, including Colombo, ahead of the planned anti-government protests, after coming under sustained pressure from top lawyers' associations, human rights groups and political parties.

The curfew was imposed in seven police divisions in the Western Province -- Negombo, Kelaniya, Nugegoda, Mount Lavinia, Colombo North, Colombo South, and Colombo Central -- with effect from 9pm on Friday until further notice, police said.

“People living in the areas where police curfew had been enforced should strictly limit themselves to their houses and law would be enforced severely against those violating curfew,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) CD Wickramaratne announced on Friday.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka protested against the police curfew, terming it “illegal and a violation of fundamental rights”.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka protested against the police curfew, terming it “illegal and a violation of fundamental rights”.

“Such curfew is blatantly illegal and a violation of the fundamental rights of the people of our country who are protesting against President Gotabaya Rajapakse and his government over its failure to protect their basic rights,” it said.

The body cautioned that the curfew intended to stifle freedom of expression and dissent would gravely harm Sri Lanka's economy and its social, political and international standing.

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka called the police curfew a gross violation of human rights.