Sri Lanka’s political and economic crisis offered a peculiar tableau Sunday after a day of high drama: The protesters were everywhere, cooking in the prime minister’s garden and even lounging in the president’s bedroom, while the leaders were nowhere to be seen.
With President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe both in hiding after indicating they would resign, it was not clear who was running the country. But it mattered little to the thousands who have flooded into the capital city, Colombo, since Saturday: For months they had felt they were on their own anyway as they queued up for hours — often in vain — for fuel and cooking gas, pared down their meals and scrambled for lifesaving medicine.
Opposition leaders clamored to decipher Rajapaksa’s intentions.
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