Uditha Jayasinghe

Japan calls for creditor nations' talks on Sri Lanka debt restructuring #srilankancrisis #lka reuters.com/markets/asia/j…

Japan to coordinate with Sri Lanka creditors to resolve debt crisis @Reuters reuters.com/world/asia-pac…

EXCLUSIVE: Japan seeks to organise Sri Lanka creditors' meeting on debt crisis @Reuters reuters.com/markets/asia/e…

Sri Lanka will ask Japan to invite its main bilateral creditor nations, including China and India, to debt restructuring talks, President Ranil Wickremesinghe told @j_uditha in an exclusive interview reuters.com/world/asia-pac…

Parwati Sunar, a mother of two in Nepal's Punarbas village, attends the same school as her son. At 27, she returned to school after dropping out over a decade ago when she eloped with a man. Beautiful pictures by @NaveshChitrakar, story by @imgsharma reuters.com/investigates/s…

THAI FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: THAILAND HAS RECEIVED REQUEST FOR RAJAPAKSA TO VISIT, NO INTENTION TO SEEK POLITICAL ASYLUM Thailand confirms this morning's Reuters story that Gotabaya Rajapaksa is heading to Bangkok.

IMF says Sri Lanka needs to talk with China about debt restructuring Our story today with @j_uditha after a @Reuters interview with Krishna Srinivasan, director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department. reuters.com/markets/rates-… via @Reuters

On the manicured lawns of the residence, known as Temple Trees, some took selfies. In the shade under thickets of trees, families with young children picnicked. A vendor walked through, selling lottery tickets.

"Freedom!" Mallawaara Arachchi, a 73-year-old retired engineer touring the building, told me. "What we expected we have gained. We will be the best country in the world in the near future." Next to us, two paramilitary soldiers with rifles stood quietly inside a guard box.

In other parts of the prime minister’s house, families lounged on couches. Near an entrance, a group of boys played carrom. On one corridor, an old man sat quietly as crowds steadily walked past him.

Inside the Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s official residence in Colombo this afternoon, a young man struck a tune on a piano. Many thronging the stately colonial-era mansion, once the country’s most protected buildings, joined him. This is Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya, the struggle.

Here's the full story by @j_uditha and me from Colombo. The @Reuters team will continue to track the historic events unfolding in #SriLanka, which is suffering its worst economic crisis in seven decades. #SriLankaProtests #SriLankaCrisis reuters.com/world/asia-pac…

If he resigns on Wednesday as promised, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, will become the first sitting Sri Lankan president to quit. "I think it is the most unprecedented gathering in this country," said Ruwanthie de Chickera, the playwright who is part of activists group. "Full stop."

"There were so many elderly, teenagers, youth, women," said Jeevanth Peiris, a Catholic priest who is part of the activist group. He said was involved in the clashes with police, as protesters stormed the buildings. "People didn't want to give up, didn't want to withdraw."

By night, the president and prime minister's official residences were occupied by protesters, who also uprooted fences metal outside the presidential secretariat and took over a part of it. Within hours, both leaders were ready to resign.

A plan emerged to combine online agitation, meetings with political parties, labour unions and student groups and door-to-door campaigning to get people back on the streets for a final push. On July 9, it all came together. First, protesters stormed the president's house.

It all began in June. A few dozen activists started meeting in Colombo for long sessions to think up ways to revive Sri Lanka's flagging protest movement called the "Aragalaya", or struggle. The group included the likes of Dedduwage, a Catholic priest and a popular playwright.

"I'm still trying to process it," said Chameera Dedduwage, a digital strategist who is part of the team that helped organise the uprising. "It was 50% premeditation and coordination, another 30% willingness of the people and 20% luck." [All pix by Dinuka Liyanawatte/@Reuters]

THREAD On July 9, hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans gathered in Colombo and made history. They forced their president to announce his resignation. For weeks, a group of activists had quietly been at work. They succeeded beyond their wildest hopes. reuters.com/world/asia-pac…

How history was made. @Reuters