Ex-SL PM, family flee to naval base, protests on

Shoot-at-sight orders issued to quell riots

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s armed forces were ordered on Tuesday to shoot at any persons damaging public property or threatening lives, Defence Ministry spokesman Nalin Herath said. This order came as anti-government protesters in Sri Lanka on Tuesday set up a checkpoint on the road leading to the Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo to prevent the Rajapaksa family loyalists from fleeing the country, amidst violence and widespread protests continued against the regime over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Meanwhile, a protest began in front of Sri Lanka’s Trincomalee Naval Base after reports emerged that former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and some of his family members were thereafter leaving the official residence in Colombo, a media report said. Trincomalee is a port city on the northeast coast of Sri Lanka. Rajapaksa left his official Temple Trees residence early on Tuesday morning even as a mob tried to enter the premises. 

Meanwhile, embattled Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday urged people to stop “violence and acts of revenge” against fellow citizens and vowed to address the political and economic crisis facing the nation, even as the death toll rose to eight in the unprecedented violence that erupted after supporters of the former Prime Minister attacked anti-government protesters here.