Current affairs

Watch: Mahinda Rajapaksa's family flees Colombo as protests escalate against the ruling clan!

By alagu, 10 May, 2022
Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka

As the protests against the ruling Rajapaksa clan in Sri Lanka intensify, the family is assaying to flee the country. A day after Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned from his post, the family of his son Namal Rajapaksa has on Tuesday fled the capital, Colombo. The visuals of the development have been going viral and they have shown Namal's wife and son boarding a chopper to escape the long-simmering agitation. 

It is believed that Namal's family has been sheltering in a navy base in Trincomalee in eastern Sri Lanka. As the base is under the control of the armed forces, the family has been stationed with high security. Shockingly, the developments from Sri Lanka imply that the members of the ruling family including Mahinda Rajapaksa could flee the country as what had been peaceful protests against the worst economic crisis had turned to be violence after the supporters of Mahinda had attacked the protesters. 

According to reports, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the President of Sri Lanka and the younger brother of Mahinda, had accepted the latter's resignation from the post of Prime Minister. The reports say that Mahinda Rajapaksa has also fled Colombo and taken shelter at the naval base, which is located 270 kilometres north of the capital. After learning that Mahinda and his family has been guarded at the naval base, hundreds of protesters had gathered before the base and began demonstrating against the former Prime Minister. 

The rest of the family members are also been taking steps to escape the upheaval against them as Sri Lanka has been battling the worst economic crisis in its history. The people blame the ruling Rajapaksa family for the crisis and the island nation has been witnessing incessant protests for the past few weeks against the government after the essential products have become unaffordable owing to the unprecedented inflation.

Recently, the protests had turned into violence after the supporters and leaders of Mahinda's party had attacked the protesters, which had further fueled tensions. The protesters started attacking Mahinda's supporters. Amarakeerthi Athukorala, an MP from Mahinda's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party, had died by suicide after being surrounded by the angry mobs while the protesters had torched the residences of several leaders. The ancestral home of the Rajapaksas in Hambantota was set on fire by the protesters. 

The visuals had shown that the entire property was charred and the arson was spreading across the country. Furthermore, the angry protesters had also destroyed the memorial of D A Rajapaksa, who is the father of Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa. As the violence had grown so was the blame against Mahinda, he had eventually stepped down from the post and the country is currently run by the President and it has been expected that an interim government will be formed and a new Prime Minister will be appointed soon.

The reports say that at least eight people have been killed in the violence while over 200 people are injured. Following the resignation, Mahinda had officially vacated the Temple Trees, the official residence of the Prime Minister and he had then fled Colombo. On the other hand, the opposition parties urged that Mahinda must be arrested for instigating the violence. Former President Sirisena said, "He (Mahinda) must be arrested for encouraging violence. There was no reason to attack the peaceful protesters." 

While the government has imposed a curfew till Tuesday, it was later extended to Wednesday as the protests were brewing with huge intensity and Mahinda's resignation didn't mitigate the agitations. In the current state of emergency, the armed forces are given powers to arrest people. The worst economic crisis in Sri Lanka was sparked by a lack of foreign currency, which has meant that the country cannot afford to pay for imports of food and fuel, leading to acute shortages and very high prices. 

 

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