Colombo, July 13: A timeline of Sri Lanka’s worst political crisis:
April 1: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declares state of emergency after a spate of protests.
April 3: Almost entire Cabinet resigns, isolating President Rajapaksa and his brother-Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
April 5: President Rajapaksa loses parliamentary majority. Emergency lifted. Finance Minister Ali Sabry quits.
April 10: Doctors say they are nearly out of life-saving medicines.
April 12: Sri Lanka announces it is defaulting on its foreign debt of $51 billion.
April 19: Police kill a protester.
May 9: Government loyalists attack peaceful protesters in Colombo. Nine people are killed and hundreds injured in reprisal violence.
Mahinda Rajapaksa resigns as Prime Minister, rescued by troops after protesters storm his residence. He is replaced by Ranil Wickremesinghe.
May 10: Shoot-to-kill orders issued.
June 27: Fuel sales suspended
July 9: President’s house stormed, Rajapaksa flees his official residence in Colombo. Wickremesinghe’s house is set on fire.
July 13: President Rajapaksa flies to the Maldives on a military aircraft.
