COLOMBO - Sri Lanka offered an amnesty on Sunday for the return of historical treasures looted when protesters stormed the presidential palace a year ago, forcing then leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee.
Months of protests over Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948 culminated in thousands of people breaking into the palace on July 9, 2022.
“Various valuable artefacts and archaeological items went missing, including coats of arms associated with former governors and presidents of Sri Lanka,” the office of Mr Rajapaksa’s successor Ranil Wickremesinghe said in a statement, announcing a month-long amnesty for the surrender of the items.
The artefacts were stolen from the palace in the heart of the capital Colombo – a symbol of state authority for more than 200 years – during its five-day occupation.
Officials released photos of five coats of arms, including one of Jorge de Albuquerque, the seventh Portuguese governor appointed in 1622 to administer the island.
Other coats of arms belonged to governors during British colonial rule in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Soon after the protesters overran the palace, social media posts showed them frolicking in the presidential pool and bouncing on four-poster beds.
As Mr Rajapaksa escaped through a back entrance, security forces stepped back while crowds took selfies in front of valuable artefacts.
Mr Rajapaksa was blamed by protesters for corruption and mismanaging the nation’s finances.
Police later arrested a man who walked home with a presidential beer mug. Two others who took official presidential flags – turning them into a sarong and a bedsheet – were caught after posting photographs on Facebook.
Activists, however, handed over to the police some US$6,000 (S$8,080) in cash found in Mr Rajapaksa’s bedroom, with a court since calling on the former president to explain how he earned it.
Mr Rajapaksa initially fled to Singapore and Thailand, but has since returned to Sri Lanka under tight security.
His successor has clamped down on protests and restored essential supplies after doubling taxes and sharply raising prices. AFP
