Calls to arrest former PM

Protesters attacked earlier this week by supporters of Sri Lanka’s government are demanding that the newly appointed prime minister arrest his predecessor for allegedly instigating the attack. Protesters are camped outside the official residence of new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was appointed this week by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in a bid to hold on to power and quell the nation’s political and economic crisis. His brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned as prime minister after the attack on the peaceful protesters in the capital Colombo by government supporters triggered a wave of violence across the country, in which nine people were killed and more than 200 wounded. The appointment of Wickremesinghe, who was prime minister from 2015 to 2019, has been opposed by Sri Lankans who say he is part of a corrupt system they want overhauled.