With weary faces and smiles on their lips, demonstrators stroll the lawn of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office. As winners, they occupy the premises. The armed soldiers who had met them violently a few hours ago watched the scene in shock.

Sri Lankans no longer want to leave. Despite tear gas, water cannons and police charges, they managed to attack the new symbol of power in the country’s capital, Colombo, on Wednesday 13 July. Last Saturday, the palace and office of the President of the Republic Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the official residence of the then Head of Government, was vandalized.

In a small room located at the back of the building, about thirty people crowd to watch the latest information on the head of government’s flat screen hanging in one corner of the room. Some sit comfortably on soft white sofas or beautiful wooden chairs covered in soft blue velvet. Others sat cross-legged on the floor.

When Ranil Wickremesinghe’s face appeared on television, the protesters immediately booed him. The middle finger is extended vertically in the direction of the screen. Then silence falls and everyone listens religiously to his statement. The leader’s words ring out in Sinhala. “We can’t let the fascists take over. He throws. The gangs that reached the Prime Minister’s office have no reason to sit there, they are causing trouble. »

However, within these walls, we work to collect valuable objects and take historic black and white photographs. “They do an inventory and then they document everything to protect these things from the mob. From tomorrow, many people want to visit offices.Tarindu, a man in his thirties comments.

‘Terminator’ President Runs Away

Curious people have already started pouring in after learning about the takeover of the building through social networks or the media. Due to the acute fuel shortage on the island, many arrive on foot. Within a few hours, a long queue had already formed to enter and visit the colonial-era building.

On Wednesday, citizens waited in vain for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He had promised on Saturday that he would leave office on July 13. But the country woke up to the news that he had escaped. “The Terminator”As he is nicknamed here, he took off from Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport early in the morning in an Air Force flight.

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