Sri Lankan security forces dismantled the main anti-government protest camp on Friday morning, reports AFP . news agency. Activists had gathered outside the presidential office early this month. It is not yet known whether there have been any injuries. The Sri Lankan government has not yet commented on the action.
Troops and police commandos attacked the protesters hours before they were due to leave the area. The activists had announced that they planned to move away from the building Friday afternoon.
The camp eviction comes a day after Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s new president. He replaces former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was forced to resign by protesters. Wickremesinghe was Prime Minister of the South Asian country under Rajapaska.
Wickremesinghe had warned protesters that occupying state buildings was illegal and would be evicted unless they left themselves. “If you try to overthrow the government, occupy the office of the president and the cabinet of the prime minister, that’s not democracy, it’s against the law,” he said.
No layoff
Tens of thousands of protesters marched through the streets of the capital Colombo last week, calling on Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe to resign. Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka on July 13 after protesters stormed and occupied his home. He flew to the Maldives and then to Singapore, from where he officially resigned.
Wickremesinghe did not resign, although he had initially offered to do so, and instead accepted the position of acting president until he was elected as the new president in a parliamentary vote on Wednesday. Wickremesinghe will remain president until 2024. Then the country organizes new elections.
Sri Lanka has been ravaged by protests for months as the country is effectively bankrupt and faces acute shortages of food, fuel and other basic necessities.