Opposition parties in Sri Lanka have begun consultations to form a new government, a day after protesters stormed the president and prime ministers’ homes, forcing the country’s leadership to say they would step down.
Shavendra Silva, Sri Lanka’s chief of defence staff, on Sunday called for a peaceful resolution to a crisis that saw tens of thousands of people angered by rising prices and shortages of essential goods converge on the capital Colombo on Saturday. The US has also called on Sri Lanka’s ruling elite to resolve the crisis “quickly” and the EU called for a “peaceful, democratic and orderly transition”.
On Saturday protesters entered the official residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa amid chants of “Gota, go home!” In chaotic scenes captured on film and video, protesters were seen storming into the white colonial-era residence, then cooking and showering in its rooms, lounging on furniture and beds, and splashing in its pool. Protesters broke into the private house of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and set it ablaze.