Sri Lanka: president agrees to resign amid unrest

The Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has agreed to resign after a dramatic day during which his house and offices were stormed by protesters and the home of the prime minister set on fire.

It was an historic victory for the protesters who have been calling for him to resign for months and gathered on the streets of Colombo in their tens of thousands on Saturday, as the country continues to struggle through its worst economic crisis since independence.

Ealier prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, had told a meeting of party leaders that he too would resign as soon as a new all-party government was formed.

Rajapaksa, a former military man who was accused of war crimes when he was defence secretary, had refused to step down for months, and was the last Rajapaksa left standing. His resignation next week will mark the end of a two-decade hold that the Rajapaksa family have had over Sri Lankan politics.

Despite fuel shortages, tens of thousands of people travelled into the centre of Colombo on Saturday morning, many commandeering trucks and buses, to attend what became the biggest protest yet against the president. As the crowds swelled and pushed against the barriers, police began firing teargas.

Ruki Fernando, an activist, said he had travelled almost 100 miles from the city of Kandy to be at the Colombo protest. On the way he had seen people walking along highways, clutching on to the back of cargo trucks, crushed into lorries and on bicycles, in order to get to the protest despite the lack of transport due to the fuel crisis.

Sri Lanka is continuing to struggle through a devastating crisis in which the economy has completely collapsed and the government is unable to afford to import food, fuel and medicines.

All sales of petrol have been suspended, schools have shut and medical procedures and surgeries are being delayed or cancelled over a shortage of drugs and equipment, with the UN recently warning that the country is facing a humanitarian crisis.

Inflation is a record-breaking 54.6% and food prices have gone up fivefold, meaning two-thirds of the country are struggling to feed themselves. Sri Lanka defaulted on its foreign debts in May, which total over $51bn, and is in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a $3bn bailout.