COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Hundreds of protesters marched outside the office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday morning to demand he step down, after protests were bolstered overnight by throngs of people arriving in the capital, Colombo, from all over Sri Lanka.
“We don’t want the Ranil robber, the bank robber, the deal thief!” chanted the crowd. Walkers included families with young children, many of whom had started from the president’s office.
Near the prime minister’s office, security forces fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse protesters, but they stood still and converged with another group. Riot police, as well as air and military personnel, many wearing gas masks and carrying guns, stood nearby without engaging with the crowd.
Earlier in the day, outside the president’s office, the atmosphere was generally peaceful, with an air of celebration. People are digesting the news of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing to the neighboring Maldives.
“The thieves are running away,” said Sanjayra Perera, a university librarian who was among thousands who made their way to Colombo. She had brought her two children, 12 and 10, on Wednesday morning by train from the western town of Gampaha.
She said she wanted her family to be in the capital when the Rajapaksa family dynasty fell.
“This is our country,” she said. “We win.”
Crowds found patches of shadow under statues, sat on the wall of a seaside park and lined up, holding umbrellas to block the sun, for a chance to see the historic office building, one of three government buildings that protesters had taken over this past weekend.
Despite uncertainty over whether Mr Rajapaksa would step down on Wednesday, as the Speaker of Parliament announced, and who could replace him, protesters were jubilant with the knowledge that the end of an era was near.
“It’s a historic day for us,” said Randika Sandaruwan, 26, who boarded the train Tuesday night with nine friends from nearby Negombo. “We had to kick out our president, and now Gota is gone,” he said, using a nickname for the president.
Mr. Sandaruwan and his friends, like many protesters, had nothing to protect them from tear gas.
Shameen Opanayake, 22, sat on the porch with her mother and two sisters. They had taken an early bus from their home in Kalutara, south of the capital.
“If he doesn’t resign today,” he said, referring to the president, “I don’t think this place will stay quiet. The whole country rejects him.