NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa(pix) resigned on Monday as anti-government protests continued over the country’s worsening financial crisis.
“Effective immediately I have tendered my resignation as Prime Minister to the President,“ he tweeted.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is Mahinda’s younger brother, had asked him to step down to resolve the ongoing crisis, Sri Lankan media reported earlier.
Protests have been taking place against the government and the powerful Rajapaksa family for weeks as many people blame them for mishandling Sri Lanka’s worst economic turmoil since independence in 1948.
Power blackouts, inflation, and shortages of food, fuel and medicines have led to widespread public anger.
Dozens of people were taken to hospital after supporters and opponents of the government clashed at a major protest site in Colombo on Monday, according to media reports.
A nationwide curfew was imposed following the clashes during which police used tear gas and water cannons.
“The economic crisis we’re in needs an economic solution which this administration is committed to resolving,“ Mahinda said in an earlier social media post.
Acknowledging that “while emotions are running high” in Sri Lanka, he urged people “to exercise restraint and remember that violence only begets violence.”
Meanwhile, Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the second son and chief of staff of Mahinda, left the country for Singapore early on Monday, the Sri Lankan media reported.
Sri Lanka recently halted payments on its $51 billion foreign debt and lacks sufficient foreign exchange to import energy and other vital items.-Bernama