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WATCH: Sri Lanka parliament descends into chaos
Estelle
Sat, 11/17/2018 - 05:26

Teaser Media

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COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's parliament descended into chaos for a second day on Friday as lawmakers supporting newly-appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa threw books, chilli paste and water bottles at the Speaker to try to disrupt a second no-confidence motion.

The vote went ahead anyway and for a second time, lawmakers turned against Rajapaksa and his new government, possibly opening the way for the return of Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister.

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Wickremesinghe was removed by President Maithripala Sirisena late last month and replaced with Rajapaksa, plunging the country into political turmoil.

"We have the majority," Wickremesinghe told reporters. "We can form our government and we will act accordingly."

Sirisena is now faced with the choice of either reappointing the man he kicked out only a few weeks ago, or allowing the crisis to continue with potentially damaging consequences for the economy.

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Rajapaksa supporters poured on to the floor of parliament, surrounding the Speaker's chair, and demanded the arrest of two lawmakers from Wickremesinghe's party for allegedly bringing knives into the house on Thursday.

An MP from Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Podujana Peremuna party sat on Speaker Karu Jayasuriya's chair surrounded by more than 20 lawmakers, delaying the start of proceedings. Rajapaksa loyalists then tried to prevent Jayasuriya from sitting on a second chair brought in by police.

When Jayasuriya started calling out names to know whom MPs supported, Rajapaksa supporters threw the books and chilli paste at him.