Protestors storm Sri Lankan presidential palace. Source / CNN, @disclosetv via Twitter
Two days after protesters stormed the presidential palace and made it their own, Sri Lanka's President has officially announced he will resign.
Local reports say President Gotabaya Rajapaksa officially informed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that he will be resigning on Wednesday.
He has been in hiding after fleeing the country on a Navy vessel when crowds in their hundreds of thousands descended on his home in Colombo.
The news is expected to be welcomed by protesters who said they would not leave the official residence despite forcing their leader to take refuge on a vessel offshore.
BREAKING NEWS: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has officially informed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that he will be resigning as previously announced - PM Media#SriLanka#lka#CrisisLK#GotabayaRajapaksa
The dramatic events on Saturday were the culmination of months of protests by people enraged by the South Asian island nation's unprecedented economic crisis and the Rajapaksa clan's incompetence and corruption.
Hundreds of thousands massed in Colombo demanding Rajapaksa take responsibility for shortages of medicines, food and fuel that have brought the once-relatively rich economy to its knees and caused misery for ordinary people.
After storming the gates of the colonial-era presidential palace, protesters lounged in its opulent rooms, somersaulting into the compound's pool and rummaging through Rajapaksa's clothes.
Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Photo / AP
At a clock tower near the palace, activists hung an effigy of Rajapaksa on Sunday evening as thousands of onlookers cheered.
Troops had fired in the air to help Rajapaksa escape on Saturday. The president then boarded a naval craft which steamed to the safety of the island's southern waters.
On Sunday the presidential palace was a free-for-all, with children and parents plonking on a grand piano, admiring the expensive artwork, picnicking and taking it in turns to sit in the president's chair.
Protesters swim as onlookers wait at a swimming pool in president's official residence a day after it was stormed in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 10. Photo / AP
From the naval ship, 73-year-old Rajapaksa — who had clung to power even after deadly nationwide violence in May forced his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa to quit as prime minister — told the speaker of Parliament he would step down on Wednesday.
Security forces on Saturday had attempted to disperse the huge crowds that mobbed Colombo's administrative district, triggering clashes.
Colombo National Hospital said 105 people were brought in Saturday and that 55 remained under treatment on Sunday, including one in a "very critical" state with a gunshot wound.
A defence source said Rajapaksa, along with one of his brothers — Basil — was heading to a naval base in the northeast of the island. However, there was no official word their whereabouts.
Washington urged Sri Lankan leaders to act quickly to address the situation "with a commitment to the betterment of the nation -- not any one political party".
