Colombo (AP) – Sri Lanka’s Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe wants to restore law and order in the island nation. He accepted peaceful protests, but some demonstrators wanted to undermine democracy, he said on Friday. Wickremesinghe, 73, also pledged to address pressing issues such as the country’s fuel shortage. In Sri Lanka, protests have been going on for days due to the severe economic crisis, which has led to the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

About 500 people protested outside the presidential office on Friday against Wickremesinghe, whom they consider an ally of Rajapaksa. With the increased presence of security forces, there were no other major protests in the streets. Violent clashes with security forces broke out during last Wednesday’s protests, in which 42 people were injured, according to police. A spokesman for the protesters told the German Press Office that several people with “political interests” had infiltrated their campaign.

Parliament plans to elect a new president on July 20. He will remain in office for another two years until the next election. Wickremesinghe was the last prime minister under Rajapaksa. Rajapaksa fled abroad on Wednesday night.

India’s southern island nation of about 22 million people is experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades. Therefore, the government has requested, among others, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India, China, Russia, and other countries. The country lacks fuel, cooking gas, medicine and food. The heavily indebted country lacked the money to import essential goods. High inflation and an hour-long power outage also caused great hatred. The reasons for the crisis are manifold – including mismanagement and corruption, but also the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the vital tourism sector hard. Because of the crisis, many people have been protesting against the political leadership for weeks.

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