Sri Lanka: How a dramatic day unfolded at the PM's office

By Tessa Wong
Asia Digital Reporter, BBC News, Colombo
The protesters' anger melted away as they entered the PM's compoundThe day started with a hurried departure
and the promise of a resignation.
Sri Lankans woke to the news that overnight President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the man whose family had ruled the
island with an iron fist for most of the last two decades, had fled the country having promised to leave his job.
His rule has given rise to mass protests, as people struggle with daily power cuts and shortages of basics like
fuel, food and medicines.
At Galle Face Green in the capital Colombo, one of the main centres of the protests, hundreds roamed the
streets and listened to fiery speeches from fellow citizens railing against the government and leaders who had
steered the country into its worst economic crisis in decades.
The unrest there came as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed acting president by the departing
Mr Rajapaksa, and declared a state of emergency and regional curfew in the western region which includes the
capital. Police tried to stop the break-in with tear gas.Protesters climbed up on the black gates to the compound
and started rocking them back and forth to tear them off their hinges. The metallic thumps echoed down the
avenue to cheers, which only intensified when protesters succeeded in ripping the gates down. They were met by
a wall of soldiers.
This appeared to unnerve the military. Suddenly the crowd was pelted with a volley of tear gas canisters shot
from inside the compound. The avenue was wreathed in smoke. Protesters screamed in defiance, and began
picking up the canisters with their bare hands or traffic cones and hurling them back into the compound.
'Keep moving forward'
Each time the choking and sputtering crowd stumbled back through the burning fog of tear gas. But each time
they would return, determined.
"Whatever happens, we will keep moving forward," they chanted in Sinhalese.
Another chant referred to the tear gas: "They are splitting us apart, but keep moving forward."
Residents from neighbouring compounds brought out hoses and sprayed protesters down. Trucks drove past
with people tossing bottles of water to the crowd. Protesters washed each other's faces, passed water around,
and even offered bottles to soldiers standing guard at the walls.
A path was cleared, and a mighty river of protesters poured in, screaming "Aragalaya" (Struggle), the name of
their organic protest movement.
In that instant, their anger melted away, transformed into joy and disbelief.
'Still fighting'
As hundreds of people tried to press in, protesters began setting up their own crowd control measures, holding
back people at the doors. Groups were brought in at intervals to gawk at the rooms and take pictures.
On the lawn outside, people lay down on the soft grass and trampled through flowerbeds. Someone brought out
drums and banged out a rhythm, as people swirled and danced around them.
"I'm feeling great today," said protester Nixon Chandranathan as he surveyed the crowd. "But we are still fighting,
still struggling. Our goal is for Gota to go home. And Ranil and other cabinet members to go home. We need
truthful and honest leaders to build up Sri Lanka now."
But after months of hopelessness, food and fuel shortages, and excruciating economic pain, the taking of the
prime minister's office was a rare victory they could truly savour.