The political crisis in Sri Lanka took a new turn today.Officials on the Indian Ocean island said that Parliament will vote on a new president next week.That's after mass protests in the capital forced the president and prime minister to offer their resignations.Peter Smith of Independent Television News is in Colombo, and filed this report.In Sri Lanka, the queue for petrol no longer last for hours.The wait is now measured in days.This is what it looks like when the country runs out of fuel and money.Protesters have stormed the gates of the presidential palace and, from what we saw today, they have now taken over.We will win, because people are united.This president is not coming back here?He will never come. If he comes here, our people will kick out him.The writing is now on the wall for the Sri Lankan regime.The black flag of the protesters now flies here.The new occupants experience the luxury of a presidential bed.And there have been queues to take a dip in the president's pool.The fact we, along with these people, can walk around the palace at our leisure tells us power in Sri Lanka no longer lies in the hands of the president, but it's not yet in the hands of the people, because the military still surrounds this place.Heavily armed guards are still overseeing this delicate revolution.Police have already fired tear gas on protesters.
