Sri Lanka state-owned TV goes off air as protesters storm building

Police use tear gas as protesters storm the compound of prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe `s office, demanding he resign after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country amid economic crisis. Pic/PTI

Sri Lanka's state-owned television channel Rupavahini suspended its telecast on Wednesday as protesters stormed the building, amidst the deepening political turmoil and economic crisis in the crisis-hit country.

The Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) said that its engineers have suspended their live and recorded telecasts as the corporation premises are being surrounded by protesters.

SLRC official said that a group of protestors who had entered the premises had demanded that they run only news related to 'anti-government protests' and entertainment programmes, Newswire Lanka reported.

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The protesters had been provided some 15 minutes to convey their side of the story to the viewers, after which the channel suspended transmission.

Later, the channel resumed its transmission.

Also, a second Sri Lankan state television channel went off air, less than an hour after Rupavahini suspended its operations.

Meanwhile, the anti-government protesters, who are demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, have ripped open the gates to the PM office.

The Police fired tear gas on protesters who broke through a barricade and stormed the prime minister's office.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has already said he was willing to resign and make way for an all-party government to take over.

He has ordered the security forces to arrest people acting in a riotous manner.

The protesters, who stormed the three main buildings in the capital, the President's House, the presidential secretariat and the prime minister's official residence,

Temple Trees on Saturday, demanding the resignation of President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, are still occupying them.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials.

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