Sri Lanka crisis: During protests, a picture of a couple kissing goes viral

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the president of Sri Lanka, fled to the Maldives, where he named Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president. This escalated the political crisis and set off a new round of protests in the nation, which is currently experiencing the worst financial crisis in decades. During the protests, a couple was seen kissing in public after participating in anti-government demonstrations that resulted in the Prime Minister's office being taken over in Colombo. 

NewsWire shared this picture on Twitter with the this captions: "Couple goals! A couple was seen displaying affection after participating in anti-government protests that led to the taking over of the Prime Minister's office in Colombo."

Invoking Article 37(1) of the Constitution, which permits a prime minister to "discharge the powers, duties and functions of the office of president" when the president is "ill" or "absent" from the country, Rajapaksa, the 73-year-old leader who had pledged to step down on Wednesday, named Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as the acting president.

President Rajapaksa has appointed Wickremesinghe to act in the president's place while he is away from home, according to Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena. Abeywardena added that President Rajapaksa had telephoned him to let him know that he would leave office today as planned.

He said that July 20 will be the election day for the incoming president. As demonstrators gathered close to Wickremesinghe's office on Flower Road in Colombo, the country's acting president, announced a state of emergency and enforced a curfew in the Western province.

According to Wickremesinghe, in order to restore normalcy, he has directed the security forces to uphold the emergency and curfew. He added that a committee made up of the leaders of the armed forces has been granted the authority to do this without any political interference. In addition, he promised to resign as prime minister once an all-party coalition was established.

Anti-government protestors, however, were incensed by the event and demanded the resignation of both the President and Prime Minister for handling the economy poorly. Thousands of demonstrators surrounded the PM Office building while waving flags of Sri Lanka, defying the state of emergency. When protesters invaded the prime minister's office and climbed over a barricade to demand his resignation, the police opened fire with tear gas.
 

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