Sri Lankan protesters recover Rs 17 million cash from President's house
Jul 10, 2022
Colombo [Sri Lanka], July 10 : Protesters who stormed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's house on Saturday amid the country's worst economic crisis have recovered cash of over Sri Lankan Rupees 17 million from the mansion and handed it over to the police, local media reported.
According to Sri Lanka's newspaper, News Wire, the recovered money was handed over to the police.
A video was being shared on social media showing the protesters counting the currency notes that were unearthed.
Earlier on Saturday, Sri Lankan commoners stormed into President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official home and later broke into Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's private residence and set it on fire.
Both President Rajapaksa and PM Wickremesinghe have announced to step down from their posts amid the ongoing protests. However, the protesters who have occupied the residences of the President and Prime Minister have cleared that they will continue to occupy their houses until they resign from their posts.
Sri Lanka is suffering 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.
The oil supply shortage has forced schools and government offices to close until further notice.
Reduced domestic agricultural production, a lack of foreign exchange reserves, and local currency depreciation have fuelled the shortages. The economic crisis will push families into hunger and poverty - some for the first time - adding to the half a million people who the World Bank estimates have fallen below the poverty line because of the pandemic.
