Curfew until Thursday as protesters demand ouster of Prime Miner

Sri Lanka crisis Live Updates: Hours after Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on Wednesday, acting President and sitting Prime Miner Ranil Wickremesinghe announced a country-wide curfew until Thursday morning as protesters gathered outside his office and residence. Protesters have demanded that Wickremesinghe, who is an ally of the former President, resign as well. Meanwhile, local media reported that Rajapaksha is awaiting a private jet to travel to Singapore from Male.
Parliament is expected to name a new full-time president next week, and a top ruling party source told Reuters Wickremesinghe was the party’s first choice, although no decision had been taken. An attempt Wickremesinghe to cling on would infuriate the protesters who say he is a close ally of the Rajapaksa family, which has dominated the country since Rajapaksa’s older brother Mahinda became president in 2005.
Government sources and aides said the president’s brothers, former president and prime miner Mahinda Rajapaksa and former finance miner Basil Rajapaksa, were still in Sri Lanka. On Tuesday, Sri Lankan immigration officials prevented Basil Rajapaksa, who quit in April as finance miner, from flying out of the country.