Oppn hopes to install new govt; 3 arrested over PM residence blaze in Sri Lanka

The anti-government protesters in Sri Lanka who stormed embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s official residence have claimed to have recovered millions of rupees inside his mansion, according to a media report

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Opposition parties are set to meet Sunday to discuss the formation of the new government following the President and Prime Minister’s decision to resign from their posts.

According to the parliamentary speaker, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will step down on July 13, following violent protests that shook the capital on Saturday. Demonstrators stormed the president’s official residence and set fire to the prime minister’s home in Colombo. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also said he is willing to resign to make way for an all-party government, his office said in a statement on Saturday evening.

On Sunday, the Sri Lankan police arrested three people for setting Wickremesinghe’s private residence on fire during the Saturday violence. According to news reports quoted by PTI, protesters entered Wickremesinghe’s private residence at Cambridge Place and set it on fire, inflicting extensive damage to the property and damaging a luxury sedan.