Sri Lanka crisis: After overrunning President Rajapaksa' Colombo mansion, protesters 'feel responsible', clean up area

Colombo: Two days after invading Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's residence, camping, unwinding in his mansion, protesting youth today cleaned up the area and took out bags full of trash.

The images shared by news agency ANI show garbage bags filled with waste including plastic water bottles, cans. On the heap of garbage bags, there was also a placard placed that reads, "GOTA-RANIL GO".

"We feel responsible to clean because it's a public area. We believe our generation should change the system. We have given a message to President Rajapaksa and should be calm now," news agency ANI quoted a protester as saying.

#SriLankaCrisis | Youth take out trash from the Sri Lankan Presidential Palace in Colombo

We feel responsible to clean because it's a public area... we believe our generation should change the system. We've given a message to President Rajapaksa & should be calm now: Protestor pic.twitter.com/EyhxZFIHFY

— ANI (@ANI) July 11, 2022

The anti-government protesters broke into embattled Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa's official residence on Saturday and even claimed to have recovered millions of rupees inside his mansion.

Thousands of agitators gathered in Colombo demanding Rajapaksa' resignation after months of protests. The president has been accused of the economic mismanagement in Sri Lanka, which has caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine for several months now.

Also Read: In economic-crisis hit Sri Lanka, protesters recover millions in cash at President Rajapaksa's mansion

The incumbent Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has also said he would step down following Saturday's protests, in which his private residence was set ablaze.

Huge crowds converged on the official residence of Rajapaksa, chanting slogans and waving the national flag before breaking through the barricades and entering the property. They cooked in the President's kitchen, swam in the swimming pool, workout in his private gym along with enjoying other facilities.

Sri Lanka has been suffering from its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948, which comes on the heels of successive waves of COVID-19, threatening to undo years of development progress and severely undermining the country's ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

With inputs from agencies

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