Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday set he would resign to make way for an all-party government to take over in the country.
The Prime Minister's Media Division had earlier said that the Prime Minister will resign after an all-party government is established and the majority is secured in Parliament.
- PM Ranil Wickremesinghe's house set on fire by protesters, reports ndtv.com
- The President @GotabayaR & the Prime Minister @RW_UNP must resign immediately: Dullas
- Speaker @YapaMahinda to become the Acting President: Dullas
- The Parliament must be convened within a week to elect a new President by Parliament majority, tweeted Dullas
- In the same week a Coalition Government must be formed representing all parties.@sajithpremadasa: Dullas
- Member of Dullas Alahapperuma wo attended the all-party meeting tweeted that the President and PM should resign
His office said that Wickremesinghe will continue as Prime Minister until then.
Wickremesinghe told party leaders he was taking the decision to step down in view of the fact that island-wide fuel distribution is due to recommence this week, the World Food Programme Director is due to visit the country this week and the debt sustainability report for the IMF is due to be finalised shortly.
So as to ensure the safety of the citizens, the prime minister said he was agreeable to this recommendation by the Opposition party leaders.
"To ensure the continuation of the Government including the safety of all citizens I accept the best recommendation of the Party Leaders today, to make way for an All-Party Government. To facilitate this I will resign as Prime Minister," he had tweeted.
Earlier, thousands of protesters in Colombo stormed the president's official residence and his secretariat on Saturday amid months of mounting public anger over the country's worst economic crisis in seven decades.
Some protesters, holding Sri Lankan flags and helmets, broke into the president's residence, video footage from local TV news NewsFirst channel showed.
Thousands of protesters also broke open the gates of the sea-front presidential secretariat, which has been the site of a sit-in protest for months, and entered the premises, TV footage showed.
Military personnel and police at both locations were unable to hold back the crowd, as they chanted slogans asking President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down.
Two defence ministry sources said President Rajapaksa was removed from the official residence on Friday for his safety ahead of the planned rally over the weekend.
