PM Ranil Wickremesinghe declares Emergency in Sri Lanka, curfew imposed in Western Province

Even as Gotabaya Rajapaksa is officially yet to resign, Ranil Wickremesinghe uses the “powers as acting President“

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Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared an island-wide Emergency and a curfew in the Western Province, his office said, “using his powers as acting President”, although President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is yet to officially resign.

The move came as thousands of angry protesters gathered outside the PM’s office, official and private residences, and several other locations in capital Colombo Wednesday morning. T

he development came hours after Mr. Gotabaya fled the country, amid a worsening economic crisis that culminated in a dramatic takeover of the President’s office and home last weekend, and torching of the PM’s private residence.

Asked how Mr. Wickremesinghe could invoke “powers of an acting President” when Mr. Gotabaya is still in office, PM’s spokesman Dinouk Colombage told The Hindu: “The legal explanation will follow. We want to get the situation under control first.”