Sri Lanka crisis Highlights| Protesters vacate all govt sites except Prez Secretariat

A Saudi Arabian Airlines flight from Maldives to Singapore believed to be carrying Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the world’s most-tracked flight on Thursday, underscoring massive global interest in the troubled island nation’s political affairs, Bloomberg reported. Saudia flight 788 from Male was being tracked by almost 5,000 users as of 7:43 a.m. GMT, according to data from Flightradar24.com, more than three times the number of people tracking a French Air Force plane flying in Europe. 

The Sri Lankan military has deployed tanks on the streets of Colombo to quell the protests, even as president Gotabaya Rajapaksa left Maldives for Singapore before heading to Jeddah.

The protesters accuse the president and his powerful political family of siphoning money from government coffers for years and Rajapaksa’s administration of hastening the country’s collapse by mismanaging the economy. The family has denied the corruption allegations, but Rajapaksa acknowledged some of his policies contributed to the meltdown.

Government sources and aides said the president's brothers, former president and prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, were still in Sri Lanka.

"The fight is not over," said Terance Rodrigo, a 26-year-old student who said he has been inside the compound since it was taken over by protesters on Saturday along with the prime minister's official residence."We have to make society better than this. The government is not solving people's problems," Reuters quoted him.

Sri Lanka's embattled leader leaves Maldives on Saudi planSri Lanka’s embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has left Maldives after fleeing his own country amid an economic collapse, AP reported. He boarded a Saudi Airlines plane on Wednesday that will take him to Singapore and then to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a Maldives government officials said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Maldives officials say Sri Lanka's President Rajapaksa is taking Saudi Airlines plane to Singapore and then Saudi Arabia, AP reported.

Military troops were moving Thursday to secure Sri Lanka’s parliament building against a takeover by protesters infuriated by the country’s economic collapse and the embattled president’s failure to resign a day after fleeing the country, Reuters reported. With the country sinking into political chaos, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife fled to the Maldives on Wednesday aboard an air force jet. He made the prime minister acting president in his absence — a move that further roiled passions among a public that blames Rajapaksa for an economic crisis that has caused severe shortages of food and fuel.

Sri Lanka imposes curfew till 5 am on Friday, reports Reuters

Day after Sri Lanka PM seeks army help in quelling stir, protesters say will leave official buildings, reports AFP

The area around parliament was deserted on Thursday morning. Police manned a barricade on the approach road. Nearby, life returned to normal, with shops open and plenty of cars on the road, Reuters reported.

Sri Lankan Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena on Thursday informed Gotabaya Rajapaksa that he should submit his letter of resignation as the President as soon as possible or else he will consider other options to remove him from the office, PTI reported.

A top Buddhist monk supporting the campaign called for the more than 200-years-old presidential palace to be handed back to authorities and ensure its valuable art and artefacts were preserved, AFP reported. "This building is a national treasure and it should be protected," monk Omalpe Sobitha told reporters. "There must be a proper audit and the property given back to the state."

Private jet arrives in Maldives to transport Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to Singapore, ANI quotes Sri Lanka's DailyMirror

Protesters are still camping in the premises of prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office the day after they breached it. 

Sri Lankan military personnel are guarding the prime minister's chair in his office in Colombo, day after it was stormed by protesters who hoisted the national flag on the roof. 

Gotabaya Rajapaksa missed a deadline - Wednesday - announced by the speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament to submit his resignation after he fled to the Maldives. Reports indicate Rajapaksa is leaving the Maldives for another country, possibly Singapore but, according to Bloomberg, his current whereabouts remain unknown. He hasn’t been in touch with the speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, since supposedly speaking to him via the telephone yesterday.

Sri Lanka's anti-government demonstrators were in talks Thursday to hand back official buildings they seized, protest representatives said, even as they insisted the president and prime minister both quit in the face of an economic crisis, AFP reported. Protesters overran President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's palace at the weekend, forcing him to flee to the Maldives on Wednesday, when activists also stormed the office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The legislature’s proposed July 15 special meeting, meant to start the process of electing a new president, now hangs in balance because Rajapaksa didn’t resign Wednesday. Even if the president did send in his resignation Thursday, it’s uncertain whether the required paperwork can be done in time for parliament to meet Friday, Bloomberg quoted Janakantha Silva, the legislature’s director of communication.

Police said one person was killed and 84 injured in clashes between riot police and protesters on Wednesday near the parliament building and the prime minister's office, as people demanded the ouster of both Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe.

Chief of Defense Staff Gen. Shavendra Silva called for calm and for cooperation with security forces. Similar comments have rankled opposition lawmakers, who insisted that civilian leaders would be the ones to find a solution, AP reported.

"We want Ranil to go home," Malik Perera, a 29-year-old rickshaw driver who said he took part in the protests, said on Thursday. "They have sold the country, we want a good person to take over, until then we won't stop."

The Sri Lankan Army has declined instructions of acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe to use force against the protestors after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to Male to escape public wrath over present economic crisis in the Island nation. Full report

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has put out a warning of the possible exposure to significant financial, operational, legal, and security-related risks posed by investments in virtual currencies, essentially cryptocurrencies, while asking them not to fall prey to such types of virtual schemes offered through the Internet, ANI reported.

United Nations chief Antonio Gutteres tweets on the Sri Lankan political crisis. “I continue to follow the situation in Sri Lanka very closely. It is important that the root causes of the conflict and protestors’ grievances are addressed. I urge all party leaders to embrace the spirit of compromise for a peaceful and democratic transition,” he tweeted.