Protesters storm in at the Sri Lankan president's official residence, in Colombo, Sri Lanka , Saturday, July, 9, 2022.Eranga Jayawardena/The Associated Press
People watched from a nearby street and fire trucks were at the scene as fire blazed and clouds of smoke rose from Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private home in an affluent Colombo neighbourhood.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will step down next Wednesday (July 13), the country’s parliamentary speaker said on Saturday (July 9), bowing to popular pressure after a day of violent protests.
Wickremesinghe also said he is willing to resign to make way for an all-party government, his office said in a statement on Saturday evening.
Demonstrators also stormed the president’s official residence. Neither Rajapaksa nor Wickremesinghe were in their residences when the buildings were attacked.