For years, Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa dynasty ruled the island nation with an iron fist, striking fear into political opponents, journalists and other perceived threats to their power. Now protesters are chasing them out of their homes, and out of power.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 73, is set to resign on Wednesday after months of street protests over surging prices and shortages of basic goods such as food or petrol. After spending his time holed up at his official seaside residence, protesters shouting "Gota Go Home” forced him to flee on Saturday while breaching the gates of the compound in dramatic scenes.
The unrest showed the public fury at Rajapaksa, whose three-year administration has left Sri Lanka pleading for cash from the International Monetary Fund and nations like China and India after defaulting on foreign debt for the first time since independence from Britain in 1948. Bondholders are also furious: One last month named the Rajapaksas in a lawsuit seeking more than $250 million in unpaid debt — the first of potentially many others.