蜜芽传媒

Sri Lanka is in a state of emergency amid weeks of protest against an increasing economic crisis which has fuelled political chaos. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled abroad but broken his earlier undertaking to resign by the end of Wednesday, even though he's effectively unable to continue in the role.

Mr Rajapaksa has merely appointed the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, to be acting president while he's absent. Demonstrators want both men to quit. Defying an emergency, they stormed the prime minister's offices on Wednesday and attempted to force their way into parliament.

Ram Manikkalingam was an adviser to the former president of Sri Lanka, Chandrika Kumaratunga, and is the founder and director of the Dialogue Advisory Group, an independent organisation that facilitates political dialogue to reduce violence.

鈥淧eople feel terribly let down and lied to by the former president... there's a strong sense of anger and uncertainty."

"Going forward there are two processes that the members of parliament can initiate: a no-confidence motion against the prime minister, who's also the acting president - that will get him out of the post of prime minister - and simultaneously an impeachment process against the previous president."

(Pic: Security forces fire tear gas to disperse protesters as they try to enter the Prime Minister鈥檚 Office in Colombo, Sri Lanka ; Credit: EPA)

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