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In this image from a video, Sri Lankan lawmakers fight in parliament in Colombo on Thursday, November 15, 2018. Rival lawmakers exchanged blows in Sri Lankan parliament, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa having asserted that the president did not have the power to dismiss him from office by vote. (AP Photo) The Associated Press
By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI, Associated Press
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) – While Sri Lankan President met with opposition MPs following a vote of no confidence against his newly appointed prime minister, thousands of people protested for support the Prime Minister, that he hunted, burning coffins representing what they called the death of democracy. in the nation of the Indian Ocean.
On Thursday, rival parliamentarians exchanged blows in the Sri Lankan Parliament after Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa declared that the president did not have the power to dismiss him by vote vote on Wednesday when the legislators met for the first time since the beginning of the political crisis with the ouster of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
President Karu Jayasuriya told the chamber that the country had no government and that there was no prime minister.
Rajapaksa was not of that opinion, saying that "a vote should have been taken." Such important motions should not be adopted by vote-to-vote. "
He accused the president of bias against his party, the Unified National Party, led by Wickremesinghe.
Rajapaksa also reiterated his call for new elections, suggesting that it was the best way to resolve the crisis.
The fight broke out after the opposition asked for a vote on Rajapaksa's statement. Some MPs who supported him gathered in the center of the house, while others rushed to take his microphone, Jayasuriya.
Dilum Amunugama, Rajapaksa's ally, was taken to the wounded hospital by hand as he tried to pick up the microphone from the president's table.
In the 225-member house, dozens of deputies in white dress participated in the fray, some throwing bottles of water, throwing garbage cans and stamping their feet. Opponents of Rajapaksa circled Jayasuriya to protect him.
The commotion lasted about half an hour before Jayasuriya stayed home.
"The speaker was completely besieged and almost physically attacked by Rajapaksa-backed MPs," said Chandani Kirinde, senior correspondent for The Sunday Times, a Sri Lankan weekly. "Although clashes have occurred in the home, it is probably the first time the speaker is subjected to so much intimidation and mistreatment."
Similarly, on Wednesday, Jayasuriya proceeded to a vote by vote on the motion of censure against Rajapaksa after the chamber sank into chaos.
Hours after the parliamentary clashes, Sirisena held an emergency meeting with opposition party leaders who voted in favor of the motion of censure against Rajapaksa.
Sirisena asked the Parliament to resume the motion of censure, canceling the part that decried the ouster of Wickremesinghe and the nomination of Rajapaksa, and allowing it to be debated and to proceed to a roll-call vote .
Sri Lanka has been in crisis since October 26, when President Maithripala Sirisena suddenly dismissed Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Rajapaksa. Rajapaksa, a former president, is considered a hero by some members of the Sinhalese ethnic group for ending a long civil war by crushing Tigers rebels of the Tamil ethnic group. However, his time in power has been tainted with allegations of atrocities of war, corruption and nepotism.
Tensions between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe have increased for some time, with the president not approving the economic reforms introduced by the prime minister. Sirisena also accused Wickremesinghe and another Cabinet member of conspiracy to murder, a charge that Wickremesinghe repeatedly denied.
Sirisena also suspended Parliament, apparently to give Rajapaksa time to gather support from lawmakers. But Wickremesinghe insisted that his dismissal was unconstitutional. He refused to leave his official residence and asked that Parliament be summoned to prove that he still had the necessary support.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court suspended Sirisena's decision to dissolve Parliament and hold new elections next month.
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