today in sri lanka. we saw thousands of people peacefully coming out and protesting, and then, saw the shift in terms of breaching the official residence of the president and his office. but unfortunately, violence has been seen in the last few hours, as you saw, the private residence of the prime minister was torched. and so, there remains a lot of questions and uncertainty as to what happens next. the last few months, people have been protesting for change purely because they ve been really facing difficulties, in terms of getting essential items, the long queues to get fuel i mean, it s become the norm now to see vehicles, people staying and sleeping in vehicles to get fuel, and that ranges from 3 4 days sometimes.
to the world as a place of beautiful beaches. a country of 22 million people that was recovering from a vicious civil war. like everywhere else, it was hit hard by covid but the roots of this latest crisis are far deeper than that. these are the rajapaksa brothers, who have dominated politics in sri lanka for years. gotabaya, on the right, president now for a few more days. mahinda on the left a former president, until recently, prime minister in his brother s government. critics blame them directly for the woes of the country. of the country. we got here because of sheer incompetence, mismanagement, and greed. and the rajapaksa family embodied that. they embodied three things that have brought sri lanka down the first is authoritarianism, the second is corruption, and the third is ethnic chauvinism. and all of this came to a head when gotabaya rajapa ksa became president. as sri lanka s economic
by parliament s speaker he will step down by wednesday. and this is said to be the prime minister s private residence. it was set on fire, even though he had earlier offered to resign. after a day of chaos, fury and confusion, the anti government protesters here, they are celebrating the announcement of the planned resignations of president gotabaya rajapaksa and prime minister ranil wickremesinghe. and these protesters, they want a new beginning for sri lanka, a new political culture, so they will not face the similar economic crisis in this country. anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news, colombo. sri lanka has run out of foreign currency and has had to impose a ban on sales of petrol and diesel for private vehicles. so why is the country experiencing such turmoil? caroline hawley explains. sri lanka s best known perhaps
a rescue operation is under way in southern poland, after ten miners were reported missing, in the second major incident at coal mines in the country in a week. the operator of the mine at zofiowka said an underground tremor had sparked a leak of methane gas. pressure is mounting on sri lanka s president, with some senior politicians now backing nationwide protests calling for his resignation over a worsening economic crisis. the country s media minister has announced his support for the thousands gathered outside president gotabaya rajapa ksa s office. sri lanka is suffering its worst economic downturn since independence, with acute shortages of food, fuel and other essentials. almost 100,000 fans will fill out london s wembley stadium tonight as it hosts one of the biggest all british heavyweight bouts in history. tyson fury will defend his wbc heavyweight title against dillian whyte. it ll be fury s second defence of the title he won from deontay wilder in february 2020. the champio
reason it s now struggling to pay for them. in this beach town, i meet a hotel owner who blames the government, led by president gotabaya rajapa ksa, for this crisis. did you vote for the rajapaksas? oh, i hate them! i m 35 years old, i voted for rajapaksa i ll never vote for them again. never, never, never. anger towards the ruling rajapaksa brothers is at boiling point, even in their own backyard. huge crowds have been protesting outside prime minister mahinda s house here in tangalle. president gotabaya rajapaksa appeared before mps on thursday he s still refusing to step aside. elected in 2019, critics say economic mismanagement, sweeping tax cuts and high borrowing mean he should take