Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has returned

• After widespread protests in July, the former president of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled to another country.
• Rajapaksa traveled back home via Singapore after spending time in Thailand on a temporary visa.
• The worst economic disaster in the history of the island is attributed to his rule by Sri Lankans.

After widespread protests in July, the former president of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled to another country. He has since returned.

Mr. Rajapaksa traveled back home via Singapore after spending time in Thailand on a temporary visa. He reportedly met a few Sri Lankan ministers at the airport.

The worst economic disaster in the history of the island is attributed to his rule by Sri Lankans. Extreme food and gasoline shortages resulted from the collapse of international currencies. Following a substantial spike in the price of food and petrol, protests started in April.

The generally peaceful demonstrations calling for the resignation of Mr. Rajapaksa and his older brother Mahinda, the former prime minister who resigned in May, drew hundreds of thousands of participants from all walks of life and all communities.

After tens of thousands of people attacked his official mansion in July, the disgraced leader took a military plane to Singapore, where he submitted his resignation. He then fled to the Maldives. Ranil Wickremesinghe, a seasoned politician, was thus given the opportunity to win the presidency.

For the new government, which does not want additional protests and will need to provide for his security, Mr. Rajapaksa’s return is a sensitive matter.

“We are not opposed to the return of Mr.Rajapaksa. Any Sri Lankan citizen can return to the country,” Father Jeewantha Peiris, a prominent protest leader, told the media.

“People came to the streets because of the alleged corruption against his government. We don’t have any personal enmity against him.”

Other demonstrators said they will thwart Mr. Rajapaksa’s attempts to reenter politics or the administration.

“After he returns, we need to take legal action against him for the mistakes he committed as president and also file cases against his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa,” another activist Rajeev Kanth told the media.

According to Sri Lankan media sources, the government has found Gotabaya Rajapaksa a home in the heart of Colombo, although it’s unclear if he will travel there right away or first to a safe military base.

According to a spokeswoman for the defense ministry, Mr. Rajapaksa “would be granted security as a former president

The six-time Sri Lankan PM who became president

• Why is Sri Lanka in crisis?
• The daily heartbreak of life in a country gone bankrupt
• ‘Protests have changed thinking for the better

Rights organizations claim that since Mr.Wickremesinghe entered office, the government has cracked down on demonstrators. Police have recently apprehended dozens of people, the majority of whom have since been released on bail.

Under the harsh Prevention of Terrorism Act, three student union officials who organized the protests have been detained.

President Wickremesinghe is accused by protesters of lacking legitimacy and popular support as well as of shielding the Rajapaksa family. The government claims that only individuals who are accused of breaching the law are subject to punishment.

In the third week of July, soldiers dismantled the protest camp in front of the president’s secretariat in Colombo. Last month, protesters also abandoned the Galle Face neighborhood on Colombo’s seafront.

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