Sri Lanka crisis: 2 state-run channels go off air amid stir, one resumes service

Sri Lanka economic crisis: Parliamentary speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said on Wednesday that Gotabaya Rajapaksa has told him about sending his resignation letter today itself.

Amid the pandemonium in Sri Lanka following President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing the country, state-run television channel Sri Lanka Rūpavāhinī Corporation (SLRC) went off air temporarily on Wednesday. The step was taken after protestors stormed into the office premises and demanded that news on "anti-government" stir and entertainment programmes only be shown, local media reported.

Demonstrators gather outside the office of Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, amid protests over the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Wednesday. (REUTERS/Adnan Abidi)

Earlier, protestors were allowed 15 minutes to convey their side of the story. In one of the tweets shared by Newswire, one protestor said that “until the struggle is over”, the SLRC will only telecast programmes of the “Jana Aragalaya”.

Catch live updates of Sri Lanka protests here

Soon after, the national TV channel was taken off air. However, according to a latest report by Newswire, the live transmission has resumed.

Colombo-based Daily Mirror reported that state-governed Independent Television Network (ITN) was also taken off air after protestors surrounded its office premises. There is no update on whether the ITN has resumed live telecast.

The development comes after Rajapaksa appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the acting President of the country. This led to fresh agitation as protesters, from the beginning, had demanded that both Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa resign from their respective roles.

Security forces took to the streets to control the mob, and even shot several rounds of tear gas shells to keep the situation from worsening further. The protestors, who see the PM as an ally of Rajapaksa, were heard chanting, “Ranil go home!”

A state of emergency has been declared across the country by Wickremesinghe within his power as the acting President. He also imposed a curfew in the western province.

Sri Lankan authorities, meanwhile, confirmed earlier in the day that Rajapaksa along with his wife and two bodyguards fled to Male in Maldives after full approval of the country's defence ministry. He landed at the Velana International Airport in Male late Tuesday night on a Lankan Air Force plane.

Rajapaksa is expected to step down today, as announced earlier by parliamentary speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena. In a televised message, Abeywardena said that Rajapaksa has informed him of sending a resignation letter today itself.