Man is detained by Sri Lankan police after president’s flags are stolen

• Police say he used one of the official presidential flags as a bedsheet and the other as a sarong.
• Tens of thousands of people stormed Rajapaksa’s residence and office earlier this month, forcing him to flee.
• He got blame from protesters for mismanaging the nation’s finances and public anger had simmered for months.

Police claimed they detained a trade union representative from Sri Lanka on Saturday; after he reportedly stole two official flags from the residence of the ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa; and used them as a bedsheet and sarong.

Rajapaksa was forced to flee the country and eventually resign after tens of thousands of angry citizens; assaulted his home and office on the seashore earlier this month.

On condition of anonymity, a police officer spoke to AFP about the man’s detention on Friday night; in response to a social media post that showed him using one of the official presidential flags; as a bedsheet and the other as a sarong.

The police claimed, “We identified him from the recordings shot and released by his kid.”

He admitted to burning one flag, and we have found the one; he was wearing as a sarong, according to the investigators.

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The officer said, “The individual was detained in detention for two weeks for additional investigations.”

The 22 million residents of Sri Lanka have faced months-long outages, record inflation; and shortages of food, fuel, and gasoline.

Before the large-scale protests that led to Rajapaksa’s overthrow, the people had been angry for months; over his alleged mismanagement of the country’s finances.

Social media photos showed protestors splashing about in the presidential pool and jumping on four-poster mattresses; within the expansive grounds surfaced shortly after they overran the Presidential Palace.

On the same day, demonstrators also overran the neighbouring Temple Trees comple;, the formal prime minister’s house, and took televisions and other belongings with them.

According to the police, an inventory was being done at the colonial-era structures; which include priceless works of art and artefacts.

However, demonstrators also handed up to law enforcement around 17.5 million rupees ($46,000) in clean banknotes; that were discovered in a chamber of the presidential palace.

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