An ally of the Rajapaksa political family was appointed Friday as Sri Lanka’s prime minister, hours after security forces cleared the main protest site occupied for months by demonstrators angry at the Rajapaksas over the country’s economic collapse. New President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was elected by lawmakers and sworn into office earlier this week, appointed his school classmate Dinesh Gunawardena to succeed himself. Gunawardena is 73 and belongs to a prominent political family. Sri Lankans have taken to the streets for months demanding their leaders resign over an economic crisis that has left the island nations’ 22 million people short of essentials like medicine, food and fuel. The protests forced out former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa last week. His family has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the last two decades, but public outrage over the economic crisis forced several family members to leave ministry posts earlier in the crisis. Gunawardena ’s appointment came several hours after security forces made several arrests and cleared a protest camp near the presidential palace in the capital, Colombo, where demonstrators have gathered for the past 104 days. Read: Sri Lankan forces make arrests, clear main protest site Army and police personnel arrived in trucks and buses around midnight, removing tents and protest banners. They blocked off roads leading to the site and carried long poles. The security forces were witnessed beating up at least two journalists. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the main lawyers’ body in the country, also said at least two lawyers were assaulted when they went to the protest site to offer their counsel. Its statement Friday called for a halt to the “unjustified and disproportionate actions” of armed forces against civilians. On Monday, when he was then the acting president, Wickremesinghe declared a state of emergency that gave him broad authority to act in the interest of public security and order. Authorities have broad power to search premises and detain people, and Wickremesinghe can change or suspend any law. On Friday, he issued a notice under the state of emergency calling out the armed forces to maintain law and order nationwide. The emergency must be reviewed by Parliament regularly to decide whether to extend it or let it expire.

Sri Lanka’s acting president on Monday declared a state of emergency giving him broad authority amid growing protests demanding his resignation two days before the country’s lawmakers are set to elect a new president. Ranil Wickremesinghe became acting president on Friday after his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled abroad on Wednesday and resigned after months-long mass protests over the country’s economic collapse. Wickremesinghe’s move to impose a state of emergency comes as protests demanding his resignation too have continued in most parts of the country, with some protesters burning his effigy. Lawmakers who met on Saturday began the process of electing a new leader to serve the rest of the term abandoned by Rajapaksa. Nominations for the election of the new president will be heard on Tuesday, and if there is more than one candidate the lawmakers will vote on Wednesday. Read: Sri Lanka begins choosing leader to replace ex-president The emergency decree issued by Wickremesinghe invokes sections of the Public Security Ordinance that allow him to make regulations in the interests of public security, the preservation of public order, the suppression of mutiny, riot or civil commotion, or for the maintenance of essential supplies. Under the emergency regulations, Wickremesinghe can authorize detentions, take possession of any property and search any premises. He can also change or suspend any law. The South Indian island nation is engulfed in an unprecedented economic crisis that has triggered political uncertainty. Sri Lanka has run short of money to pay for imports of basic necessities such as food, fertilizer, medicine and fuel for its 22 million people. Its rapid economic decline has been all the more shocking because before the crisis the economy had been expanding, with a growing, comfortable middle class. Sri Lanka is seeking help from the International Monetary Fund and other creditors, but top officials say its finances are so poor that even obtaining a bailout has proven difficult. The economic hardships led to political upheaval and widespread protests demanding the government led by Rajapaksa step down. Although many ministers resigned in April, Rajapaksa had remained in power until last week. The main protests have occurred in the capital, Colombo, where protesters occupied the front of the president’s office for more than 100 days. The protesters accuse Rajapaksa and his powerful political family of siphoning money from government coffers and of hastening the country’s collapse by mismanaging the economy. The family has denied the corruption allegations, but Rajapaksa acknowledged that some of his policies contributed to Sri Lanka’s meltdown. Rajapaksa flew first to the Maldives on Wednesday and then to Singapore.

Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister agreed to resign Saturday after the country’s most chaotic day in months of political turmoil, with protesters storming both officials’ homes and setting fire to one of the buildings in a rage over the nation’s severe economic crisis.   Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he will leave office once a new government is in place, and hours later the speaker of Parliament said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would step down Wednesday. Pressure on both men grew as the economic meltdown set off severe shortages of essential items, leaving people struggling to buy food, fuel and other necessities.   Police had attempted to thwart promised protests with a curfew, then lifted it as lawyers and opposition politicians denounced it as illegal. Thousands of protesters entered the capital, Colombo, and swarmed into Rajapaksa’s fortified residence. Video images showed jubilant crowds taking a dip in the garden pool. Some people lay on the home’s beds, while others made tea and issued statements from a conference room demanding that the president and prime minister go.   It was not clear if Rajapaksa was there at the time, and government spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said he had no information about the president’s movements.   Also read: Sri Lankans storm president's house, office in biggest rally   Protesters later broke into the prime minister’s private residence and set it on fire, Wickremesinghe’s office said. It wasn’t immediately clear if he was there when the incursion happened.   Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said in a televised statement that he informed Rajapaksa that parliamentary leaders had met and decided to request he leave office, and the president agreed. However Rajapaksa will remain temporarily to ensure a smooth transfer of power, Abeywardena added.   “He asked me to inform the country that he will make his resignation on Wednesday the 13th, because there is a need to hand over power peacefully,” Abeywardena said.   “Therefore there is no need for further disturbances in the country, and I urge everyone for the sake of the country to maintain peace to enable a smooth transition,” the speaker continued.   Opposition lawmaker Rauff Hakeem said a consensus was reached for the speaker of Parliament to take over as temporary president and work on an interim government.   Wickremesinghe announced his own impending resignation but said he would not step down until a new government is formed, angering protesters who demanded his immediate departure.   “Today in this country we have a fuel crisis, a food shortage, we have the head of the World Food Program coming here and we have several matters to discuss with the IMF,” Wickremesinghe said. “Therefore, if this government leaves there should be another government.”   Wickremesinghe said he suggested to the president to have an all-party government, but didn’t say anything about Rajapaksa’s whereabouts. Opposition parties were discussing the formation of a new government.   Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesinghe as prime minister in May in the hope that the career politician would use his diplomacy and contacts to resuscitate a collapsed economy. But people’s patience wore thin as shortages of fuel, medicine and cooking gas only increased and oil reserves ran dry.   The country is relying on aid from India and other nations as leaders try to negotiate a bailout with the International Monetary Fund.   Months of demonstrations have all but dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty, which has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades but is accused by protesters of mismanagement and corruption. The president’s older brother resigned as prime minister in May after violent protests saw him seek safety at a naval base.   Many protesters crowded onto buses and trains Saturday to get to the capital, while others made their way on bicycles and on foot. At the president’s seaside office, security personnel tried in vain to stop protesters who pushed through fences to run across the lawns and inside the colonial-era building.   At least 34 people including two police officers were hurt in scuffles. Two were in critical condition, while others sustained minor injuries, according to an official at the Colombo National Hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the media.   Privately owned Sirasa Television reported that at least six of its workers, including four reporters, were hospitalized after being beaten by police while covering the protest at the prime minister’s home.   Sri Lanka Medical Council, the country’s top professional body, warned that hospitals were running with minimum resources and would not be able to handle any mass casualties from the unrest.   Protest and religious leaders said Rajapaksa has lost his mandate and it is time for him to go.   “His claim that he was voted in by the Sinhala Buddhists is not valid now,” said Ven. Omalpe Sobitha, a prominent Buddhist leader. He urged Parliament to convene immediately to select an interim president.   U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung on Friday asked people to protest peacefully and called for the military and police “to grant peaceful protesters the space and security to do so.”   “Chaos & force will not fix the economy or bring the political stability that Sri Lankans need right now,” Chung tweeted.   Wickremesinghe said last month that the country’s economy had collapsed and negotiations with the IMF were complex because Sri Lanka was now a bankrupt state.   Sri Lanka announced in April that it was suspending repayment of foreign loans due to a foreign currency shortage. Its total foreign debt amounts to $51 billion, of which it must repay $28 billion by the end of 2027.     Also read: Sri Lanka imposes curfew as cops fire tear gas at protesters  

It has been nearly three weeks since Ranil Wickremesinghe took over as prime minister of Sri Lanka with a daunting mandate to pull the crisis-weary country from the brink of an economic abyss that threatens to tear it apart. The five-time prime minister has inherited a nation barreling toward bankruptcy and saddled with foreign debt so big that it has no money left for basic imports. Sri Lankans are struggling to access the bare necessities like food, fuel, medicine, cooking gas and even toilet paper and matches. In his new job, Wickremesinghe left little doubt about what lies ahead. “The next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives,” he told the nation fed up with long lines, sky-rocketing inflation and daily protests that seem to be getting out of control. “We must prepare ourselves to make some sacrifices and face the challenges of this period.” Since the May 17 televised speech, the seasoned politician, who also serves as the finance minister, has begun difficult negotiations with financial institutions, lenders and allies, and United Nations agencies to fill the coffers and give some relief to impatient citizens. Also read: Bangladesh won’t face Sri Lanka-like crisis: Ambassador Haas He has taken necessary steps like raising taxes and has pledged to overhaul government that concentrates power under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a model that many believe exacerbated the crisis. He took over after days of violent protests last month forced his predecessor, President Rajapaksa's brother Mahinda, to step down and seek safety from angry crowds at a naval base. Wickremesinghe is due to deliver a much-awaited speech in Parliament on Tuesday that many hope will showcase a strategy to fix the crisis. But time may not be on his side as reforms are slow and people want results now. He’s also a one-man party in Parliament — the only lawmaker from his party to hold a seat after it suffered a humiliating defeat in a 2020 election. “A person who doesn’t have a political base has an unprecedented crisis to manage,” said Dayan Jayatilleka, a former diplomat and political analyst. Lines to buy fuel and cooking gas have stretched kilometers (miles) every day, snaking around blocks, with Sri Lankans weathering heavy rains and scorching heat to buy essential items that cost three times what they used to. Often, they have to wait days, and many still end up empty-handed. Jagath Chandana, 43, has been waiting in line on the outskirts of the capital, Colombo, with a canister to buy cooking gas for two days. “It has been crazy. We are totally helpless. It seems even Ranil can’t resolve the crisis. They (politicians) just talk but on the ground level, people are suffering,” he said. Also read: Sri Lanka closes schools, limits work amid fuel shortage For over 50 days, protesters have camped outside Rajapaksa’s office demanding he step down. They say economic mismanagement, policy blunders like a hasty ban on imported chemical fertilizers that devastated crops, and a government stocked with Rajapaksa relatives caused the crisis. At their peak in power, six Rajapaksas occupied government posts — the crisis has seen the exit of all except one. The other five still remain as lawmakers. Sri Lanka has suspended repayment of nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due this year. It owes $26 billion through 2026 out of a total of $51 billion. Foreign currency reserves have diminished to just two weeks’ worth of imports while Wickremesinghe prepares to obtain a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund. On Thursday, he said any bridge financing will depend on an IMF agreement and he was hopeful that negotiations would finish by the end of June. The government is targeting $5 billion for repayments and another $1 billion to pad up the country’s reserves, Wickremesinghe said last week. In such a volatile situation, Wickremesinghe has been able to bring some transparency and rationality that was lacking in the previous administration run by the Rajapaksa clan, said Jayatilleka. But analysts also say it will be difficult for him to deliver on some of the challenges, especially as he also faces a messy battle to overhaul the constitution and strengthen the powers of Parliament to bring in much-needed reforms. “His proposals are good for medium and long term. But people want immediate changes to take place and that they don’t see,” said political analyst Jehan Perera, adding that some see Wickremesinghe as helping Rajapaksa to stay in power. In addition to demanding a new president, protesters have for weeks pushed for a complete revamp of what they say is a broken governance model. For nearly 45 years, Sri Lanka has been ruled under a powerful executive presidential system. After a thumping election victory in 2019, Rajapaksa strengthened the system through constitutional amendments that further concentrated powers in the presidency — a move that alarmed critics at the time too. Wickremesinghe made a key and early pitch to roll back some of the presidential powers. But such measures will not be easy and will require not just the approval of the Supreme Court but also a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Questions remain whether Wickremesinghe would be able to push through reforms in the 225-seat Parliament where Rajapaksa’s party holds the majority. Some opposition parties have already thrown their support behind the reforms, but Wickremesinghe's sole standing in the chamber could prove a major drawback. Or it could be an asset. His party split in 2020 amid a leadership crisis, prompting most of the senior members to leave and form a new party — currently the country’s main opposition. “He has the opportunity of playing the role of a technocratic prime minister, with his expertise and experience, unconnected to any political party,” said Jayatilleka. The size of the protests since Wickremesinghe assumed duties has also been shrinking. Perera said it is tough for people to sustain the high momentum but that as long as the economic crisis continues, so will the demonstrations. While signs of financial hardship and struggle remain in Sri Lanka, there is growing hope among some that Wickremesinghe will see them through the tough times. “He can’t perform miracles, it will take time to resolve the crisis because previous ministers have messed up,” said Amila Prasanna, a carpenter. “He is trying to solve the problems, one by one, and I am sure he will do something,” he said as he queued up for three days to buy gas.