Lagatar24 Desk
Colombo, July 24: The presidential office in Sri Lanka will reopen on Monday, days after anti-government protesters were driven from the country in a military response that drew international outrage.
Protesters stormed and occupied the colonial-era structure earlier this month as a result of widespread public outrage over the island’s catastrophic economic crisis.
On the same day, soldiers were had to rescue the then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa from his neighbouring mansion; the leader afterwards fled to Singapore and announced his resignation.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, Rajapaksa’s successor, gave the order for troops armed with automatic rifles and batons to empty the 92-year-old presidential secretariat. Security troops dismantled protesters’ tents that had been up outside the facility since April during the operation, which left at least 48 people injured and nine people in custody.
Notably, Wickremesinghe was chosen by lawmakers on Wednesday to succeed Rajapaksa, who resigned and fled to Singapore from the neighbouring Maldives aboard a military plane.
