Sri Lanka crisis: speaker of parliament recognises sacked PM as lawful leader, one person dead as violence erupts
- President sacked PM and replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa
- One dead and two injured as violence breaks out involving mob loyal to President Sirisena
Sri Lanka’s speaker of parliament Sunday recognised Ranil Wickremesinghe as the lawful prime minister, three days after his sacking by the president threw the Indian Ocean island into constitutional chaos.
Wickremesinghe has refused to vacate the prime minister’s official residence since being controversially deposed Friday, declaring his dismissal illegal and demanding an emergency session of parliament to prove he still commands a majority.
A thousand-strong crowd of supporters, including chanting Buddhist monks, has massed outside the colonial-era residence in Colombo where a defiant Wickremesinghe has been holding crisis talks with loyalists.
Sri Lanka police said a 34-year-old man was killed and two other people were injured when bodyguards for petroleum minister Arjuna Ranatunga fired live rounds at a mob loyal to President Maithripala Sirisena after the group tried to take the cabinet member hostage, police said.
It was the first report of serious violence since Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe on Friday and installed former strongman Mahinda Rajapakse as the new prime minister, triggering political chaos.
Elsewhere his successor, Rajapakse sought blessings at a temple ahead of naming a new cabinet as he jostles to consolidate his claim to the prime ministership.
Officials said police will now seek a court order to evict Wickremesinghe from the residence, threatening to escalate the stand-off.